Legend of Aincrad: Hero of Swords
by TwistedViper20XX
Summary: Link and Zelda find themselves reincarnated into a world unlike any they've ever faced before: a floating castle 100 stories high. The task seems insurmountable, but with some new allies, and some familiar ones, they set out to defeat all 100 floors. Rated 'T' for intense combat, occasional strong language/profanity, and minor adult content. LinkxZelda.
1. Prologue: The Quest Begins

**===== Tokyo, Japan - August 1, 2022 =====**

Chris Farron strolled into an electronics superstore with his best friend, Lanay Ruzanaki. They had both received an e-mail from a company called Argus, asking them to "beta test" some new virtual reality video game called "Sword Art Online" for a platform called "NerveGear." After doing some research and learning it was a (legit) massively multiplayer online game, the two agreed. Chris was a modestly skilled MMO gamer (not a pro by anyone's standards, but he enjoyed playing games and was halfway decent at them) and Lanay was an accomplished _kendoka_ after training with her father growing up, so she knew her way around a sword. The only reason they agreed to become beta testers was because Argus was providing everything free of charge, so they went to the store with e-mailed instructions in hand. The transactions went smoothly, and soon enough they were heading back to their apartment with everything they needed.

Once they were back home, Chris started cooking dinner while Lanay showered. Once she finished, she took over the meal prep while Chris took his own shower. They ate together, as they had long developed a habit of doing, and set up their NerveGear rigs in their own separate bedrooms. There was no romantic relationship between the two, nor seemingly any desire for one. They had been best friends since growing up in Canada together, near the border with the United States, and had even decided to study abroad together after graduating from college. There were always whispers growing up about what a wonderful couple they would make, which they'd always done their best to squash, which of course only seemed to give them even more life.

Once everything was installed correctly, Chris and Lanay both dove into the SAO beta. They tried creating their avatars as close to their real life appearances as the character customization engine would allow. Chris' avatar stood 5'11" tall and was wiry yet muscled, with blond hair and green eyes. Lanay's persona stood 5'4" tall, slender but _exaggeratingly_ curvy (she definitely took some creative license with her avatar). Both went with the names the system suggested, with the option to change them once the game went live.

**===== Aincrad, Floor 1: Town of Beginnings =====**

"Wow... this place is _huge!_" a young lady exclaimed in sheer awe and wonder. She noticed a new player spawn in next to her. "Chris? Is that you?" she asked him.

"Not anymore," the green-eyed youth boasted, puffing his chest out. "In Aincrad, I'm Link."

Lanay laughed. "Well, it's nice to meet you, 'Link.' I'm... Zelda."

"Well met, Zelda. Let's check out - holy shit, what happened to your chest?"

Zelda laughed as she flaunted her new digital figure. "You like these big boys?"

"Umm... sure..." Chris was completely double-you-tee-eff'ed. He would be sure to ask Lanay what prompted her to enhance herself to such ridiculous proportions, but later. "You think you're gonna be able to find armor to fit over them?"

"Of course. The game wouldn't have let me have these if I couldn't protect them... right?"

"Right. Come on, let's check out the shops."

The pair went around to the various shops, checking out armor and weapons. Link found a simple set of chainmail armor with a dragon tabard over the chest, and Zelda opted for a set of full plate (which both were pleasantly surprised to see automatically adjusted to fit her curves). For weapons, Link chose a one-handed longsword and shield, while Zelda drew on her kendo background and went with a two-handed greatsword. Sufficiently armed and supplied, the two went out into the wilds. They picked up on the game's combat system fairly quickly, learning some of the basic combos as well as their own moves.

Over the next few weeks, Link and Zelda took as much time as they could to learn the ins and outs of Aincrad: different types of weapons and the skills it took to equip them, support skills, armor proficiencies, even the ability to cook their own food. The beta only lasted for a couple weeks, but it was enough to get them interested enough to plan to stay home on launch day.

**===== November 6, 2022: Launch Day =====**

_5..._

_4..._

_3..._

_2..._

_1..._

_0!_

"LINK START!"

_**Welcome to Sword Art Online!**_

**===== Floor 1: Town of Beginnings =====**

Link's avatar materialized in the Town of Beginnings, just like it had when in the beta test. Slowly hundreds, then thousands of players warped in around him, until the beginning plaza was full. 10,000 players, the entire population of the game, were now swarming around town like flies. Naturally, the first thing he did was seek out his hunting partner Zelda, who he found being swarmed by a crowd of ogling teenage boys. She seemed to be enjoying the attention, which Link found himself getting jealous of for some reason. Eventually she noticed him and made a show of having to go join her "boyfriend," and attached herself to Link's arm.

"Jeez... are you having fun yet?" Link asked.

"Oh, calm down... it's not like any of this is real," Zelda mused. "Might as well have fun with it, right?"

"Eh... yeah, I guess. C'mon, let's go get some equipment." The two purchased similar equipment as they had during the beta test (except Link opted for an eagle design on the tabard this time around). Link was scrolling through his inventory, looking for his new armor and weapons, when he noticed several strange things. One, there was now a tattoo on his right hand. Three golden triangles, with the lower right one darker than the other two. The other was a curious object in his inventory called a 'Sheikah Slate.'

"Hey Zelda, come check this out," he called to his partner. She inspected his menu along with him and noticed the strange object, but couldn't venture any opinions as to what it was. "It definitely wasn't in the beta; I'd have remembered something like that." He tapped the menu button, and the object materialized in his hands. It looked like a small tablet, but the screen was completely blank. The back had ornate decorations, with a design like a magnifying glass with an open eye dominating the cover.

"Odd to have an item like that in a game that's all about swords. Hell, there aren't even any spells in the game unless they added them after the beta," Zelda pondered, rubbing her chin. Suddenly, Link grabbed her hand. "What's wrong?" she asked. Link said nothing, merely turning her hand so she could see the back of it. On her right hand was a similar tattoo to the one Link had, except the lower left triangle was darkened instead of the right.

"What do you think they mean?" Zelda asked as she marveled over the markings.

"No idea. This wasn't part of the customization, and it doesn't appear to be linked to any equipment." To test his theory, he equipped his new set of armor, and the image showed through onto the gloves. "This is wicked weird..."

"You're telling me. Maybe we'll find out what it is later on?"

"I guess that's all we can hope for," Link shrugged. "Come on, let's go hunting."

"Right," Zelda smiled. She scrolled through her inventory, but something stopped her short. "Huh... check this out: 'Bow of Light.'" She tapped the item, and a gleaming golden longbow appeared in her hands. "What am I supposed to do with this? I've never shot a bow before... you think I can sell it to a merchant?"

"I doubt it. This is the first bow I've even seen in this game. Doesn't seem like standard equipment. Just put it away for now. It could be a quest item or something."

"Maybe you're right." Satisfied with as much of an explanation as she was likely to get at this point, Zelda and Link partied up and headed off for the wilds. After a couple of hours, they had done a good amount of hunting, racking up some decent spoils in XP and Col, the game's currency.

"Wow, we've been at it for a while now," Link said with a laugh. "What do you say we log out and get something to eat?"

"Sounds like a plan," agreed Zelda. "It's your turn to cook tonight."

"Hey, I think _you_ should cook as a way of saying 'thank you' for saving your hide when that bandit snuck up on you."

"Well, what about when I made pork rinds out of that boar's hide right before it gored you?" Zelda tossed back playfully.

"Fine, fine, I'll flip you for it when we get out," Link said as he accessed his main menu. "Wait a second... where's the logout button?"

Zelda accessed her main menu, and to her surprise the logout button was also missing. "Maybe it's just a bug. It is launch day, after all. I'm sure the GMs are working on a fix as we speak."

"Sounds good, but there's no option to contact them to make sure."

"Oh... that's really not good."

As they pondered their situation, they heard the town bell tolling. Suddenly, they were warped back to the main plaza in the Town of Beginnings, along with everyone else.

"What the hell... a forced teleport? What's going on here?"

Zelda swallowed hard. "I'm just as confused as you, maybe a little bit more."

Suddenly, the bell stopped tolling. Link looked around, and a tiny flash in the sky caught his eye. As he pointed it out to Zelda, the entire sky was covered in a dome of red tiles that alternated between "WARNING!" and "System Announcement." Zelda found herself panicking, while Link found this odd swell of bravery coming from nowhere. Maybe it was just his instinct to protect his friend, as human nature dictates at times. His thought process was interrupted by the sky... bleeding? There was really no other way to describe it: the red dome in the sky was leaking blood, which pooled together to create a giant cloaked, faceless avatar.

"Link? What the hell is going on here?"

"I get the feeling Giant Sky Ghost is about to tell us."

Almost on cue, the ghost in the sky began to speak. Link and Zelda both did their absolute best to ignore the noise around them and listen:

**"Attention, players. Welcome to my world. My name is Akihiko ****Kayaba****. As of this moment, I am the sole person who can control this world. I'm sure you've already noticed, an item missing from your main menu: the logout button. But this is not a defect in the game. I repeat; this is not a defect in the game. This is how Sword Art Online was designed to be. You cannot log out of SAO yourselves. And no one on the outside can shut down or remove the NerveGear. Should this be attempted, the transmitter inside the NerveGear will emit a powerful microwave signal, destroying your brain and thus ending your life."**

At that moment, Link remembered a key feature he had researched about the NerveGear. The transmitter's signals worked just like microwaves, and if the safety were disabled it could possibly destroy a human brain. Cutting the power would also be pointless, as the NerveGear had an internal battery. The cloaked speaker rammed his way back to the forefront of Link's consciousness.

**"Unfortunately, several players' friends and families have ignored this warning and have attempted to remove the NerveGear. As a result, two hundred and thirteen players are gone forever, from both Aincrad and the real world. As you can see, news organizations across the world, are reporting all of this, including the deaths. Thus, you can assume that the danger of a NerveGear being removed is minimal at best. I hope this brings you some small comfort as you attempt to clear the game. But I want you to remember this clearly. There is no longer any method to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be lost forever. Simultaneously the NerveGear will destroy your brain. There is only one means of escape: to complete the game. You are presently on the lowest floor of Aincrad, Floor 1. If you make your way through the dungeon and defeat the Floor Boss, you may advance to the next level. Defeat the boss on Floor 100, and you will clear the game."**

"All 100 floors? The beta testers never even cleared Floor 10!"

**"Finally, I've added a present from to your item storage. Please, take a look."**

Link and Zelda both scrolled through their inventories and found the item in question: a Mirror. Suddenly Link, Zelda, and 9,785 other players were surrounded by flashes of white light. When the light faded, the mirror reflected each player exactly as they looked in the real world. Link's hair was different, a little bit less scraggly than his avatar's previous appearance, his muscle tone changed somewhat, but nothing too major. Zelda, on the other hand... the massive breasts and butt she equipped were gone, replaced by her normal modest proportions. Link couldn't help but snicker, which brought on a flurry of punches from Zelda. The more she hit Link, the harder he laughed. "But wait a second... how does the game know what we look like in real life?" he pondered.

"Hmm... I have a theory on that. I read that the NerveGear covers your entire head with a high-density signaling device, so it can see what our faces look like. As for our height and body shape, you remember the initial calibration we had to do when we first used the hardware? You had to touch your body all over. That must be where it got the data."

"That all makes sense. But what's the point of all this?"

"I'm sure he's going to tell us."

Almost on cue, the hooded figure continued:

**"Right now, you're probably wondering, 'why?' Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online and the Nerve Gear, do all this? Ultimately my goal has already been achieved. I created Sword Art Online for one reason: to create this world and intervene in it. And now, it is complete. This ends the tutorial for the official Sword Art Online Launch. Good luck, players."**

With that, the hooded figure faded away, and the sky returned to normal. For a moment, all was still. Then complete panic erupted. People screaming, running, trampling each other. Link grabbed Zelda by the wrist and dashed off into a nearby alley. "Come on, let's go!"

Once they were a safe distance away, Link and Zelda stopped to catch their breath. "So, what do you think?" Link asked his partner.

"I think..." Zelda paused as the words caught in her throat, but she forced them out anyway. "I think everything that Kayaba just said is true. Somehow, he created an entire online world with 10,000 citizens, and no way out except to clear the bosses on all 100 floors." Zelda began to panic as the reality of what she was saying hit home, despite her best efforts to stay composed.

"I see. Then our mission is pretty clear: get as strong as we can, and stay alive."

Then, something completely unexpected happened. It happened so fast, neither Zelda nor Link was prepared for it.

Link took Zelda's face in his hands and kissed her.

Then, even more unexpectedly, Zelda threw her arms around him and returned the kiss.

When they finally broke, they looked each other in the same familiar eyes they had known for the last twenty years, yet seemingly somehow for the first time. Was it love they saw looking back? No, it wasn't love. This was something different.

In Link's eyes, Zelda saw a new fire, a resolve to get them home alive.

In Zelda's eyes, Link saw a new trust, putting her life in his hands.

Zelda pulled Link's hands down and held them between her own. "Get as strong as we can, and stay alive."

Link nodded in the affirmative.

Their resolution set, Zelda pulled up a map of the first floor. "All right, here we are in the Town of Beginnings." Link followed her hands as she pointed out her thoughts. "From here, the path is pretty straightforward to the next few villages. Until we come up with a better plan, we slay anything that gets in our way, and help any players we come across."

"We're not gonna come up with a better plan than that," Link conceded. "Although I do think we should spend the night here in town. We can leave as soon as we're stocked with supplies. With a good night's rest and fresh supplies, we should fare pretty well."

"All right, let's go find an inn. We should move fast, though. No telling how fast they're going to sell out."

Link and Zelda received a mixed bag at the second inn they stopped at. The good news was they had one room left; the bad news was they _only_ had one room left. They got checked in, and there was definitely some awkwardness hanging in the air. Link suddenly found himself regretting that kiss earlier as a result. That was foreign territory enough, but it was mostly out of instinct to try to keep Zelda from panicking; now they were actually being forced to share a bed! What if they... but wait a second, could they even...? Sure, the rest of them looked anatomically accurate, but...

Link debated looking down his pants, terrified of what he might find, but before he could commit to the action Zelda burst into the room, back from her shopping trip. "Well, I got us some food for the night," Zelda started before noticing Link's baffled expression. "Are you all right? You look like I just caught you masturbating or something," she said with a slight laugh.

"Hey now, you've never caught me doing that before!"

"Thank the gods for that... I don't know who would be more embarrassed; you or me."

"Oh come on, I know you've definitely tried to sneak a peek or two while I was in the shower."

"Umm, keep dreaming, laser brain!"

Laughter between two old friends filled the room, pushing the weight of their situation out the open window, which Zelda was now moving the table closer to so they could eat. The gesture was not lost on Link; he always sat facing the living room window during meals to watch the outside world. Except now, he was watching a plaza full of people struggling to come to terms with their new reality.

"How many people do you think will make it out alive?"

Zelda frowned. "Difficult to say. Something like this could bring out the best in people, or the worst. I overheard a few people talking about seeing people commit suicide."

"Jeez..."

"I mean, we've all basically been kidnapped. Not always easy to keep it together. But you'd think people would band together or something. Hell, that's pretty much what the guild system is for, right?"

"It's day one. People aren't thinking that rationally at this point. It's all panic, fear, anger... humanity as a species doesn't respond to adversity particularly well."

"And you? How are you responding?" Zelda placed her hand on top of his.

Link scoffed. "Me? I haven't thrown myself off a balcony, and I don't intend do. I came into this world twenty-two years ago, screaming like a banshee and covered in someone else's blood. And if I have to go out the same way, so be it."

He turned to look at Zelda, and she couldn't help notice how the setting sun reflected in his green eyes. "But it also helps that I have my very best friend in the whole world to help me get through this. Not many are so lucky. We're a team in this. No matter what else happens, you and I are in this to the very end. And if I'm being completely honest, I couldn't think of anyone I'd rather have watching my back."

Zelda smiled. "I feel the same way. There's no one else in the world I trust more than you. And, if I do end up dying, well..." She found herself choking back tears. "Never mind... let's just get some sleep. I want to be on the road at first light."

"Deal." Whatever she was going to say wasn't worth pressing her over. Although he did notice she was a lot less shy in this virtual world, more emotionally liberated and vulnerable. _I suppose the prospect of imminent death will do that to a person,_ he mused internally. He closed the window and went to lay down on the side of the bed closest to the window, only to find Zelda already there. "Oh, I'm sorry, did you-"

"Stay there, it's fine. I'll take the door."

"Oh... okay." Link laid down, keeping a... respectable distance between their two bodies. "Well..."

"Good night. Sleep well." Link turned his back toward Zelda so that he faced the door. Eventually, they both fell asleep.

After a while, Link blinked himself awake. It was still pitch black out, so why was he awake this blasted early. Then he registered that the bed was trembling.

_What the hell..._

He turned to the wall and noticed Zelda shaking fiercely, like she was stuck in the throes of a nightmare or something. Without even thinking, he reached out to place a hand on her shoulder, and she erupted in tears. "I'm scared, Chris! I don't want to die in here!" she sobbed, burying her head in his chest. All of the fear, all of the rage, all of the despair, all of the _everything_ came gushing out of Zelda like a broken dam. She had tried so hard to keep it together, to not appear weak and scared, but she had finally reached her breaking point. Any other time she would have hated looking so broken in front of anyone, especially Link/Chris, but right now that was the farthest thing from her mind. All she knew right here and now was that she was no longer in her own world, and there was a very real chance she might not make it back. That was a concept that scared her absolutely to death, no matter how she might try to hide it.

Link, for his part, said nothing, just holding her as tightly as he could. He stroked her hair in an effort to calm her down, although it seemed to be having little to no effect. When she seemed to have cried herself out, and had switched to short, raspy breaths, he looked her in the eye and said, "Lanay, I know you're scared. I'm scared too. Believe me, I'm terrified out of my mind. I don't want to die in here either, but a part of me feels like I can't even think about that. Something's pushing me to be brave, not just for me, not just for you, but for everyone trapped in this death game."

"What do you mean? How can you be brave if you're afraid?"

"Because..." He kissed her forehead while he scrambled for an answer. "Because that's the only time a person _can_ be brave."

"A person can only be brave when they're afraid..." The words sounded foreign to Zelda, but she had to admit there was a certain wisdom in them. "Just promise me one thing, Link: don't leave me all alone in here."

"I promise. Now, get some sleep."

* * *

_**A/N: TwistedViper20XX here! So, what had happened was...**_

_**I was taking a break from writing "Ace of Blades" to read some other stories on this site. I looked up LoZ/SAO crossovers, and was *highly* disappointed! Only 10 stories, none of which took advantage of both sprawling universes to put together one awesome story. So I said, "Challenge accepted!" I plan on having a *LOT* of fun with this, if for no other reason than I'm going to have to play/replay a lot of Zelda games for research purposes. I will say that I plan on drawing on a lot of concepts from 'Hyrule Warriors' and 'Breath of the Wild,' so if you haven't played them, either play them or watch YouTube footage of other people playing them. Trust me. You'll be glad you did.**_

_**Oh, and spoiler alert: I am shipping Link and Zelda. Why? Because I can.**_


	2. Floor 1 (I): The First Day

_**A/N: Answering a question from Christopherprime22: I'm actually going to leave that to the reader's imagination and interpretation. There can certainly be cases made for both scenarios. Thanks for the feedback.**_

* * *

**===== Floor 1: Town of Beginnings =====**

The sun peeked over the horizon, casting its first rays through the window. Eventually it caught Link's eye, waking him from his slumber. He moved to stretch, but abruptly stopped. He looked down at his left arm, and noticed Zelda perilously clutching to him. He pulled away, and – whether it was subconscious or deliberate, he really couldn't tell – she tried her best to pull him back, until he was free of her grip and she was awake. "Good morning. Did you sleep well?"

"I was sleeping fantastically, until you took my pillow away."

Link chuckled. "Yeah, I know... but remember, we said first light and, well... it's first light."

Zelda turned to look out the window. The sun had now cleared the horizon. "Ugh, fine... if I have to," she pouted.

"I'll go get breakfast. Just promise to be ready by the time I get back." Link equipped some nondescript clothes and headed off to the marketplace. Zelda sat at the window and looked out the window. People were starting to mill about their day, but whether they were players or NPCs, she couldn't really tell. She turned her thoughts to the night before, and how she had just let her emotions loose for seemingly no reason at all. She prided herself on being measured and stoic, yet last night was anything but. And yet she somehow felt at ease with it all, like it was normal.

_Then again, what really is normal in this reality?_

Not finding an answer to her question, she came to a decision. She equipped her armor and waiting for Link to return. When he did, he set a bowl of fruit and bread between them and they began eating. At some point, he felt her eyes locked onto him. Nervously he stopped eating and said, "What is it?"

"I've made a decision."

"Okay... exactly what kind of decision are we talking here?"

"Don't get me wrong; I want to get back to the real world _eventually_, but until we do, I'm not going to let thoughts of it consume me. I'm going to make the most of this life, this world, this reality. I'm not going to be afraid. I'm going to fight through this world, day by day, floor by floor, with you by my side. And if we die, I just hope that we manage to leave some sort of legacy behind."

Link smiled. "That's a very good decision. A wise one, a powerful one, a courageous one. And I promise to do everything I can to help clear this game so we can all go home. With you by my side, I won't fail."

Having renewed their resolute covenant, the two finished eating and hit the marketplace. They bought all the healing and status removal items they could afford, plus plenty of food to last the day. Sufficiently supplied, they headed to the gate leading out of town, stopping to equip their weapons at the edge of the safe zone. "Wait a second!" Zelda exclaimed. "Remember those items we found in our inventory yesterday?"

"The ones that didn't look like they were useful for anything?"

"Well, what if, now that the game is officially live, they've... I don't know, activated?"

"I get what you mean. Let's check them out." Link pulled up the item called the 'Sheikah Slate,' but to his disappointment, it still didn't do anything. "Just a blank tablet, but the markings are really intriguing."

"Yeah... we should definitely keep an eye out for similar markings while we hunt."

"You're right. Plus, I just noticed..." He had noticed his belt had two hooks, where the handle of such a device might fit... and fit it did. "This way, I don't have to open my inventory every time I need to find this thing."

"Good idea."

"What about your bow?"

"Let's see... 'Bow of Light.' Not much in the way of a description..." Suddenly, her field of vision went hazy. She saw a storm of images, but what she was able to focus on were giant eyeballs surrounded by muck being pierced by golden arrows. As soon as the vision came, it was gone. "Zelda? You okay? You still with me?"

Zelda blinked furiously. "Yeah... I'm fine. How long was I gone for?"

"About 5 seconds. Your eyes went all TV snowy, the creepiest thing I've ever seen."

"Uh huh..." She narrowed her eyes at the bow, which looked like the same one she had seen in that burst of images. "I think... I think the bow gave me a vision."

"A vision...? But, that doesn't make any sense..."

"Neither does the fact that we're trapped in a giant video game."

"Hmm... fair enough."

As the partners set out on the road to the next village, Zelda described her vision in as much detail as she could. "Giant eyeballs? And you shot them with that bow?"

"Well, _I_ didn't. But someone did."

"I see... so what do you think it was?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like, do you think it was a memory from the past, a vision from the future...?"

"But what meaning do things like the past and future have in a world that, as far as we know, didn't exist before yesterday?"

"Hmm... you make a valid point. I guess all we can do is keep an eye out for any big-ass eyeballs that don't look like they belong."

"And if we find any, we'll find out what this bow is actually worth."

Link nodded in agreement as they fought their way towards the next village.

One thing was apparent to all the players they passed on the way: these were no ordinary players, nor were they two people that had teamed up on Launch Day to try and merely survive together. The absolute reckless abandon with which they threw themselves into combat, the way they communicated so effortlessly, and even the tandem defensive and offensive maneuvers they employed, could only come from two people who knew each other as well as they knew themselves.

Link was the quicker of the two, using his sword and shield to keep enemies off balance while Zelda switched in to deliver the heavy hits. By nightfall they had reached their destination, their pockets significantly heavier with Col and loot. They hit the markets to sell some unneeded items (although Zelda did find a new Zweihander that was a significant upgrade to her starter weapon) and resupply before looking for a place to stay for the night. "We could really use a good night's sleep," Zelda posed. "Is it strange that I feel physically exhausted in this virtual space?"

"No, can't really argue with you there. But there's something that I think we could use more than sleep, and that's information."

"I suppose more knowledge of our quest could be valuable... what do you suggest?"

"Well... I was thinking..." Link scratched his head nervously. "I was thinking we could stay at different inns tonight?"

Somehow, someway, Zelda resisted the urge to slap Link clear across the town plaza. Instead, she gave him a death glare and dared him to go on through gritted teeth.

"If we both pick a different in to stay at, that's more players we can network with, more sources of knowledge to tap. Plus, towns are safe zones so it's not like we'll be in any real danger."

"There you go again," she replied. "How can you sound so smart, yet so fucking dumb at the same time?" She huffed angrily and crossed her arms over her chest. "Fine. The Tower Shield is right off the main plaza. I'll spend the night there."

Link sighed, somewhat glad that she was going along with his plan. "Okay. Then I'll be at the Burning Blade. Meet back by the fountain at 9:00 tomorrow morning?"

"Fine," she said before storming off.

"Well, that was kinda awkward." Link spun around to the sound of the voice to find a scruffy-looking guy carrying a katana on his hip. "Personally, I'd never let a gorgeous girl like her out of my sight, but that's just me."

"Really?" Link chuckled. "When that becomes your business, I'll ask your advice. Name's Link. And you are?"

"Klein. Nice to meetcha." The two shook hands. "So I hear you're looking for information?"

"As much of it as I can find."

"Well, follow me, my friend..."

Over at the Tower Shield Inn, Zelda was in her room absolutely raging. _How dare he even _think_ of leaving me alone at night, information be damned? _That was really what pissed her off more than anything, because he had made it sound like such a reasonable proposal. _And what kind of idiot am I that I let him do it?! He's so going to pay for this!_

She went to bed, not even bothering to do any scouting. Link, meanwhile, was sitting at a tavern with Klein and the rest of his guild. Apparently they too knew each other from the real world, which struck a chord with Link. He knew firsthand how much easier life was having someone he trusted watching his back. Suddenly, he felt guilty for leaving Zelda by herself and shot her a quick message.

Zelda was tossing and turning, still stewing with rage. Suddenly she noticed her IM icon blinking. She opened her message window and saw a single unread message.

**Sender: Link**

"**I'm sorry I ditched you. Come to the tavern. There are some people I'd like you to meet."**

_What kind of half-assed apology... _Zelda quickly dressed and went to the tavern. She spotted Link sitting at a table with a group of six or seven players, all dressed in red. She stormed over to them, catching Link's attention. "Hey, glad you decided to co-"

_***SMACK!***_

Link's cheek glowed red where Zelda had just slapped him hard enough to stop every single conversation happening in the place. "Don't ever leave me alone again, you got that?"

"All right, all right, I'm sorry... I won't do it again."

Still miffed, Zelda pulled up a chair. "Well? Who are these people you want me to meet?"

"Oh yeah, this is Klein," he gestured to the guild's leader. "And the rest are his guild, Fuurinkazan. Dale, Dynamm, Harry One, Issin, and Kunimittz. They've scouted the road as far as the next couple of towns, but apparently the road beyond that is blocked."

"We doubled back and have been warning as many people as we can," Klein said. "The road is covered in black goop, with giant eyeballs sticking up out of it."

Zelda gasped. "Did you say giant... _eyeballs?_"

"Yeah. The crap on the ground is poisonous, so there's no getting close enough to destroy them with a sword. But if you're too far away, the eyes don't open at all. Going around isn't a wise idea either. Those fields are full of monsters at least five levels higher than anything we've seen so far. Plus the poison stretches out for at least 250 meters on each side."

"Can you point out this place out on a map?"

"Yeah, sure." Klein brought up his map and pointed to a stretch of road past the third town on the floor. "There. It's about a six-hour march though, and that's just if you stick to the road and don't do any hunting on the way."

"I see... how long will you be here in town?"

"Well, the hunting isn't too bad between here and the next town, so at least a day or so. Why do you ask?"

"We're going to check that out. As soon as we know something, I'll message you. Then I want you to get the word out as far as you can."

"You think you can do something about those creepy-ass eyeballs?" asked the player who Link had named as Harry One. "You'd be helping the rest of us out more than you know.

"I'm sure as hell gonna try. Of course, if _someone_ decides to try to leave me alone again, I may just toss his ass into the muck and be done with him." She glared a hole through Link. "Don't think this makes up for anything... you owe me big time, buster!"

"Yeah, you're right... I'll give you half of my share of tomorrow's loot?"

"As a start! How do you break a promise less than 24 hours after making it?"

Link winced; he'd never seen Zelda quite this angry before, not at _him_ at least. But she was right; he had made specifically made her a promise to never leave her alone in here. At first he had taken her request to mean he wouldn't _die_ in here, leaving her alone. He never considered she might actually expect him to stay by her side for _every minute of every day_.

_Well, I guess that's my lot in life now. Not like she's not capable enough with a weapon in her own right... but this isn't about that. The way she charges headlong into battle... it's not because she's oh-so-powerful, it's because she _knows_ she has me covering her back. That's where she gets her strength from – no, that's where _we_ get _our_ strength from: the bond we have with each other. Ugh... how could I be so dense?_

Link dropped his head on the table, the first visible sign of remorse he had shown since Zelda arrived at the tavern. "I'm sorry, Zelda... I was a complete dumbass tonight. How can I make it up to you?"

Zelda's expression softened. No matter what, she never could stay too mad at him for too long – although she was still pretty peeved. "Well, you can start by buying me dinner." She was now trying _too_ hard to put on an affront, and her veneer was starting to crack, although Link was far too smart to press the issue right now. "All right... find us a table," he conceded. "Gentlemen, it's been awesome meeting you all, and thanks a ton for the information." He added Klein to his friends list, and Zelda did the same before finding the two of them a table in the back of the tavern. Once they were seated, she made a point of putting on as much embarrassing PDA as possible, and there was nothing he could do but suck it up. If he got off with buying her dinner and putting up with her embarrassing antics, he would count himself lucky.

After dinner and putting up with Zelda's over-the-top displays of 'affection' for over an hour, Link was finally allowed to leave the tavern. He and Zelda walked across the plaza with her holding his arm close, laughing as they walked and talked. It no longer felt like she was trying to embarrass him out of revenge. She seemed genuinely affectionate... happy, even. Chris had _never_ seen Lanay smile like this in real life, and she was usually a generally happy person. Her personality just seemed to shine brighter here in Aincrad, for some unknown reason. Perhaps it was her newfound resolve to completely immerse herself in this strange new world.

Or... could it be something else altogether?

_Maybe she really... nah!_ Link dismissed the thought as soon as it popped into his head. _I'm her friend, maybe now her knight in shining armor, but that's it. No way she could be in love with me... could she?!_

Eventually they found themselves in front of the Tower Shield Inn, where Zelda was rooming for the night. "Well... will you be kind enough to walk me to my room?" Zelda asked, somewhat shyly.

"Of course," Link said softly, clearly relieved that their earlier row was behind them. He followed behind her as she led the way up two flights of stairs to the room she had rented for the night. She unlocked and opened the door, turned to smile at Link, who smiled back and stepped towards the open doorway...

...only to find it suddenly slammed in his face.

The door actually caught Link flush in the face, so hard it knocked him into the far wall. Fortunately, the doors in Aincrad were 'soundproofed' to prevent eavesdropping, so he had no way to hear Zelda laughing her head off on the other side of the door. Instinctively he reached up to check his nose to see if it was broken, before realizing there was no way to actually be 'injured' in this game.

"Well, I guess I had that coming," he sighed before leaving the inn for his own room over at the Burning Blade.

Zelda, meanwhile, had finally stopped laughing long enough to sprawl out across the bed. As much as she _hated_ the idea of sleeping without him, she figured a night of suffering would be well worth her revenge. As she brooded over her plan, she noticed another door in the room.

A closet... or maybe...?

She stood up and opened the door to reveal a small bathroom, with a sink and shower. _Wow... I guess Kayaba really thought of everything,_ Zelda mused. _Except..._

Removing her clothes was easy enough; all she had to do was tap each item of clothing – shirt, pants, and boots – and then select the option "Remove." This left her in her bra and panties.

"Well... moment of truth time," she gulped as she tapped her bra, bringing up a small menu:

_**Undergarments**_

_**{{Change}}**_

_**{{Remove}}**_

She tapped "Remove" and her nondescript bra and panties vanished to her virtual inventory, leaving her stark naked. She caught a look at herself in the mirror and was... well, 'shocked' might have been a bit of an understatement. Every bit of her physical form had been flawlessly replicated in virtual space. "Geez... they could have at least taken off some of the tummy, though," she laughed as she stepped into the shower. The water felt amazing, or was it simply her brain interpreting the water as feeling amazing? Of course, she didn't really care either way. A nice hot shower after two days hunting monsters in the field was a massive morale booster, period.

Speaking of morale...

Zelda scrolled through her inventory for the special item she had purchased earlier. She opened it, along with a note detailing how to use it.

Oh, this was going to be a fun night...

* * *

_**A/N: TwistedViper20XX here! This chapter ended up taking a lot longer than I expected due to some scheduling conflicts, but I still managed to somehow finish it up in two weeks. That seems like a reasonable goal going forward, but life is about to throw some major curveballs my way – but in a good way! – so we'll just have to see what happens.**_

_*** Special shoutouts to the following users for following/favoriting this story:**_

_**Artyom-Dreizehn**_

_**iZuikaku**_

_**Justaguynobigdealallright**_

_**Minstrel of Madness**_

_**Radioaktive9999**_

_**TrimusicaDrag00n90**_


	3. Floor 1 (II): Partners, Or More?

**===== Floor 1: Burning Blade Inn =====**

Link lay in bed, alone, cursing himself and the lapse in sanity - it couldn't possibly have been anything else - that made him think it was a good idea leaving Zelda alone, for _any_ reason. Even as good an idea as gathering information was on its face, alone? On their second night in this world? There was no mistake about it. Sleeping alone had been her way of punishing him, and he deserved it.

_Seriously, dude... what the fuck?_

Try as he might, he couldn't sleep, so he decided to do the only thing worth doing in this particular universe: fight. He equipped his armor and weapons, and left the village by the road they had entered earlier in the day.

One thing became painfully apparent early on in Link's hunt: fighting solo was extremely different than fighting as part of a team. The monsters weren't overwhelming by any means, but he couldn't handle them as easily as he could with Zelda by his side. Plus he took more damage in each fight, which meant waiting longer for his regen skill to heal him. As a result, after a couple hours he became frustrated with his lack of progress and turned to head back towards town. However, a commotion from behind caught his attention, so he turned to check it out. Eventually he came upon a player with her sword drawn, confronting a group humanoid characters. How many there were he couldn't immediately see, so he kept his distance while he analyzed the scene. Eventually it became clear that the other humans were players as well, and their intentions were less than friendly. Link sheathed his sword and cautiously approached, wanting to get a better measure of the situation _before_ possibly making it worse by adding more weapons. He got just close enough to hear one of them speak:

"C'mon baby girl, if we hadn't come along just now, who knows what might have happened to you? We just saved your life, so as far as we're concerned, you owe us."

The girl said nothing, just keeping her sword pointed to the man who was speaking while trying to keep the others from surrounding her.

"Then again..." Another player drew his own sword. "It's not like monsters are the only dangers on the roads at night."

That was Link's entrance cue. He drew his sword and shield and rushed in, putting his back against hers. "That's enough. Put your weapons away and go."

The first speaker laughed as he drew his blade. "I don't think you understand the situation here."

The problem was, Link understood the situation exactly; three versus two spelled trouble. But he couldn't let himself appear afraid, so he settled in and started drawing up a plan.

Miraculously, such a plan became unnecessary, as the group caught sight of something in the direction of the village and chose to flee in the opposite direction. Link kept a wary eye on the trio until they were at a safe distance away, then let out a huge sigh of relief as he stashed his weapons. He turned to the young lady he had just rescued, who now had her sword trained on him. "I didn't need your help," she spat angrily.

"Maybe, maybe not," Link said indifferently. "I guess we'll never know, and you're better off for it. What are you doing out here at night anyway?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"I'm staying in the next town up. I couldn't sleep, so I came out to do some hunting."

"Couldn't sleep? Right..."

"It's true. I had a fight with my partner."

"A fight, huh? What about?"

"Ask her yourself. Why do you think those thugs took off so quickly?"

The girl looked over Link's shoulder, and she saw a heavily-armored figure walking down the road towards them. She couldn't distinguish much about the figure in the dark... except for the massive two-handed sword it was now drawing from its back. She stepped back tentatively because... well, this person wasn't very big (maybe as tall as she was), but that sword was just _huge_! Meanwhile, Link just stood there with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. "What took you so long?"

The figure got within sword range, put away her sword and removed her helmet. "Wouldn't have been any fun to run in right away," Zelda said with a frown. "I was waiting to see what you could do without my help. Since you like leaving me on my own and all, I thought 'why not treat you to a dose of your own medicine?'"

"All right, I get it, _I'm sorry_!" Link groaned. "But I dare say we have a bigger problem on our hands at this very moment."

"Oh really? And what's that?"

Link glanced at the girl he had just rescued. "Getting _her_ to town safely."

Zelda narrowed her eyes at the girl. "Oh, so you're worried about _her_ safety, but not mine?"

"How long are you determined to be a total bitch about this?"

The girl backed away nervously. "Umm... should I just leave you two alone?"

Zelda drew her sword and pointed into the girl's face, causing her to fall to the ground out of sheer fright. "You there! What's your name?"

"A-a-asuna!" she stammered.

"Asuna, huh..." Zelda lowered her sword, but didn't sheathe it. "Well, Asuna, it's not safe to be traveling the roads at night, especially alone. We have an extra room in town; you're welcome to it."

Link was taken aback. "What do you mean, 'we have an extra room?'"

"You're coming to spend the night with me, and I'm not taking no for an answer," Zelda glared with her hands on her hips.

"I really couldn't..." Asuna said, trying her best not to agitate Zelda. "I'd have no way to pay you back, plus I've put your boyfriend out enough already-"

"HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!" Zelda again pointed her sword directly in Asuna's face, this time with fire in her eyes (and a blush in her cheeks).

"Aaaah! Okay! I'm sorry! Please don't kill me!"

Realizing this girl legitimately thought she might actually kill her in a fit of rage, Zelda finally unequipped her sword, causing a sigh of relief from both Link and Asuna. "I'm sorry, Asuna… we got off on the wrong foot. My name is Zelda, and this insensitive lunkhead I call my _partner_ is Link." Link gave a nonplussed wave, before suggesting they continue their little tiff within the safety of the town's walls. "Preferably _before_ the monsters start to respawn."

"Fine, but this is _not_ over!"

"Whatever." Link started up the road back to town, with Asuna trailing slightly behind and Zelda suddenly clinging fiercely to his arm.

Eventually the trio made it back to the Burning Blade Inn, where Link transferred his room to Asuna and left - practically being dragged - to the Tower Shield Inn where Zelda was rooming. As soon as the room door closed behind the two of them, Link could practically feel the rage radiating off of Zelda. Sure enough, he looked over his shoulder and Zelda was seething and shivering with rage.

_And... here... we... go..._

"Do you... have... any... idea..." Chris knew that tone all too well; it only came out on the rare occasion when Lanay was too angry for words, so finding and choking on each one was a chore, but a chore he dare not interrupt lest she try ripping his throat out. "How... _worried_... I've been... _for the... last... two... hours_?"

Link's ears perked up at the word 'worried;' he certainly hadn't expected to hear that. "Worried? What do you mean, worried?"

"I... sent you a message... but you... never... opened it. After a... while... I checked your... location and... you weren't... in your room."

Link looked to his upper right and saw the blinking message icon he had somehow missed all night. _Oh shit..._

"So I checked again, and I found you in a field surrounded by four other players. I feared the worst, so I got dressed and ran as fast as I could. But when I got there, I saw you getting up close and personal with another girl."

"Okay, _that_ was purely by accident. She was surrounded by those three thugs, the ones that ran away when you came walking down."

"Why?"

"'Why?' Why what?"

"Why did you leave the safe zone so late at night all by yourself?"

_Oh, _that _'why.'_ "I couldn't sleep, so I went out to do some hunting."

"Why not just come to me?"

"Because as far as I knew, you were still mad at me!"

"Which, if your stupid ass had checked your messages...!"

At last, Zelda did something neither Chris nor Link had ever seen her do before: under the weight of all the sadness, all the fear, all the rage, and all of her armor, she collapsed to the floor and started wailing - not crying, _wailing_ \- so loudly that if rooms weren't soundproof in this game, the entire inn would have heard her. Link went to sit next to her, but no sooner than he was on the ground than Zelda punched him square in the face.

"Don't touch me!" she yelled. "The only reason I'm crying is because I want to kill you right now, but I can't because we're in a safe zone!"

"Geez," Link said through hands clutching his nose. "Not because it's illegal-slash-unethical, not because then you'd _really _be alone here, but because the world won't let you."

"Yes, because the world won't let me!" Perhaps at realizing the absurdity of that sentiment, or she had reached a new level of anger, she had stopped crying and was laughing a little.

"Right, because we both know how you get when you can't get your way." Lanay was _something _of a spoiled brat in real life, but only in small matters; the worst she ever got was pouting over not being able to order take-out or something like that.

"Shut up... this is entirely your fault."

"I know, and I admitted that earlier."

"Still, though..." She turned her back to him and crossed her arms. "I couldn't let you think you were getting away _that _easy," she pouted.

"Oh... then in that case, tonight is _your _fault."

An armored hand swung haphazardly through the air. Link dodged it easily, causing Zelda to completely unequip her armor so she could move around better. "Stupid asshole!" she yelled/laughed as she chased him around the room. Finally Link grabbed her by the waist and, with much squealing, flailing and protesting, picked her up and tossed her onto the bed. He sat next to her and took her hand as she sat up. "Can you please forgive me for today?"

Zelda smiled. "That's all I've been waiting to hear." She leaned over and gave Link a peck on the cheek before stripping down to her underclothes. Link did the same and the two lay down in bed, with Zelda wrapping Link's arms around her until they both fell asleep.

The next morning, Link and Zelda woke up late after lying in bed for several hours after the sun came up. Remembering the intel they had gotten from Klein, they set off toward the next village, hoping to find the giant eyeballs he and his guild had described. After a twelve-hour trek (there were still monsters to slay and loot to earn), they came across the quagmire the Fuurinkazan guild had scouted out before. The muck shone a dark purple in the moonlight, and had a sickening, sinister aura about it. "Well, this looks like the place," Zelda noted grimly as she took in their surroundings. Klein and his band had been exaggerating of course, as is human nature, but not by much. To go around would take them through territory crawling with monsters several levels higher than they currently were capable of contending with, so that wasn't a reasonable option. But the more she scanned the terrain, the more it looked like there was... _something_ in the middle of all the sludge... or was that the dim light playing tricks on her eyes? One thing she definitely didn't see were any eyeballs, although she did remember they supposedly didn't open until someone got close enough... "Link?"

"Hmm? You see something?"

"I'm gonna need you to take one for the team here."

"Ummm... what?"

Zelda equipped her Bow of Light. "I want you to take a few steps into the poison."

"O...k... and what exactly will you be doing while my HP is slowly being sapped to zero?"

"Waiting for an eyeball to open so I can shoot it. If it takes you below 75 percent, back out and we'll come up with another plan."

Link arched an eyebrow. "I feel like it's crazy trusting you on this, but you seem to know what you're talking about. All right, I'll go in as far as I can, but I'd feel a lot better if you at least had an idea of where to look."

Zelda scanned the landscape, and spotted a spherical protrusion to their left maybe 50 meters from the edge of the muck. "That's gotta be one of them. I want you to walk right to it. I'll be waiting with my bow to shoot it if it opens up."

"What if my health drops too low?"

"It's within healing crystal range, so you should be fine."

"All right... here we go." Link stepped into the poison and immediately felt it begin to affect his stamina and HP. He still pushed through, keeping an eye on his HP gauge.

_Forty meters to go..._

"How you doin'?" Zelda called out.

"Holding up," Link grimaced. Truth be told, every step was more painful than the last, but he had to keep going. His partner was trusting him, and he had to trust her in return.

_Thirty meters..._

Link's vision was starting to blur in and out. His HP was down to 60 percent, and he was struggling to walk.

_Halfway there..._

Suddenly, a giant yellow eye opened and stared at Link. That was precisely what Zelda had been waiting for. She drew her bowstring back, and a magical arrow of light began to form. She took aim, and as soon as the arrow was fully formed she let it fly. It flew true and pierced the eyeball through, causing it to wither and explode. When it did, the poison receded away from them, leaving Link on safe and solid ground. She ran up to him and popped both a healing and antidote crystal, restoring him to full health and stamina. "Wow, it actually worked," Link marveled as he got his feet back under him.

"Yeah, it did..." She looked around and saw another six eyes within 25 meters the road itself. They had enough crystals to clear those, and agreed that would be a safe threshold considering where Link started having difficulty moving the first time. Within minutes, the road itself was clear enough for travelers to make it through to the next village, which was another half hour walk down the road. They got to the gate, and a young girl ran up to them. "You're the first visitors to our village in quite some time! Does this mean the road is clear?"

Before either Link or Zelda could answer, a quest dialog popped up. "Ohhh, she's an NPC," Link noted. "So she'll be here when we wake up in the morning." He dismissed the dialog and found an in for himself and Zelda to spend the night at. After spending the night and resupplying in the morning, they sent word to Klein and his guild that the road was now safe for travel, although any travelers should stick to the road itself. "Oh, hold up," Link said. "I never did open your message from the other day."

_Message?_ Zelda said to herself. _What message-_

She then saw Link's eyes nearly bulge out of his head, glancing between her and his message window.

_Oh... _that _message._ She blushed a little as she walked away, trying her best to hide a grin that got wider with every step.

* * *

_**TwistedViper20XX here!**_

_**So... this chapter definitely took some time to get published, because in the last two months I've moved to Texas and started training to become a radiography technician. It's a two-year college course crammed into about six months, so most of my time is spent studying. But I've been keeping on top of this project, bit by bit. I was originally going to make this chapter about twice as long, but I decided against it. With that in mind, I hope to have the next chapter up by next weekend.**_

_**Again, I want to thank all my reviewers, favorites and followers! Keep it up!**_


	4. Floor 1 (III): Confronting An Old Legend

**===== Floor 1: Lakeside Village =====**

Link stood with a stupefied expression on his face, watching Zelda walk away from him. He had just (finally) opened the message Zelda had sent him the night before. Apparently she had learned some things that were completely new to him, namely the facts that:

\- showers existed in Aincrad;

\- so did cameras;

\- players had the ability to completely disrobe; and

\- everyone and everything was completely anatomically correct and accurate.

He was still trying to process this new information when the girl they had met upon arriving in town the night before ran up to him. "You're the first visitors to our village in quite some time! Does this mean the road is clear?"

"Yes, the road is clear," Link managed to untie his tongue long enough to spit out.

"Wow! You must be a really strong hero if you were able to clear the road of poison. Will you please lend us your aid again?"

Before Link could respond, a quest dialog box popped up:

_*******Unique Quest*******_

_**Ilia, Chief's Daughter**_

_**The village is in grave danger. Monsters and wild animals roam the field near the river, attacking any who stray too close. Villagers are being driven insane and attacking travelers. The village chief's daughter thinks the source is coming from the river. Investigate, and clear the corruption if possible.**_

_**Accept / Deny**_

Link quickly tapped 'Accept.' "Oh, thank you!" Ilia droned on in typical NPC fashion. Eventually she ran off back to wherever she came from and Zelda took her place by Link's side. "Well, hero, I guess we've got a job to do." She tried to latch on to Link's arm, but he snatched it away from her and turned his back to her. "I'm not talking to you right now," he blustered as he crossed his arms across his chest.

Zelda grinned. "Aww... you didn't like the pictures I sent you?"

"Not. Talking. To. You." He stormed off toward the village gate, as it seemed like the only way to keep Zelda to keep from seeing how red his cheeks were.

"I'm sorry... the next set will be better."

"Not talking to you!"

"Why not? Oh, I know... you can take them yourself!"

"SHUT UP!"

The pair worked in concert to clear the rest of the poison from the fields, taking care to avoid attracting the attention of any nearby monsters. Eventually, the path led to a short waterfall about a kilometer and a half away from the main road. It too was covered in purple muck, which was poisoning a nearby river. "This river... it seems to flow back to the road. If that's the case, and creatures are drinking from it..."

"That would explain the crazy strong monsters!" Link exclaimed. "What did that 'Unique Quest' say? Something about monsters in fields-"

"And people going crazy... suddenly it all makes sense." What didn't make sense, however, was the lack of any eyeballs controlling it...

"Link, look. Behind the waterfall..."

"It looks like..."

"...a cave?"

"It looks safe enough to approach from the water..." Link waded into the river. He still felt the effects of the poison, but they were lessened due to the rushing waters, which were only waist-deep. Zelda stowed her bow for the moment, opting to watch Link's back with her greatsword. They cleared the waterfall, and Link sensed an ominous presence in the cave. "See anything?" he whispered.

"No, nothing," Zelda replied, cautiously scanning the cavern. The deeper they passed, the darker it got until the light from the outside was almost completely gone. Suddenly Link jumped back, almost knocking Zelda off her feet, causing her to yelp in panic. "Link! Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. But that poison's in here, too!"

"How do you know?"

"...Because I just stepped in it, genius."

"Well, if there's poison in here..." She sheathed her sword and equipped her bow.

"There's got to be some of those eyeballs in here."

"Umm, Link, do me a favor..."

"What?"

She passed Link her sword. "Hold this straight up in the air."

"Umm, okay..." He did as he was bid, and immediately the room became a little bit lighter.

"Perfect." She drew back her bowstring and let an arrow fly through the biggest, yellowest, most revolting disembodied eyeball she had ever seen. It spewed toxic liquid all over its surroundings (Link chief among them) as it shriveled up and died, but once it did, all the poison vanished and a soft, dim light filled the cavern. Zelda used another healing crystal to restore Link's health, and another antidote to remove the effects of the sludge's poison. "Wow... you seem to be full of good ideas here," Link remarked.

"Thanks. It looked like it was just outside range if we were standing normally, but I thought the added range of the sword might get it to open up."

"Looks like you were right. Hopefully with that, the river should be cleared... wait a second, what's that?"

The cavern wall began to collapse in front of them... no, it wasn't _collapsing_; it was _cascading _into a long stairwell. A stairwell that, oddly enough, seemed to get brighter towards the top. They both readied their weapons and began to climb the stairs, the light getting brighter and brighter as they climbed, until all they could see was white light. Eventually the light faded...

...leaving Link and Zelda standing on a small island in the middle of a vast lake. They looked around and marveled at the sheer beauty of the place. The shore was full of animals (healthy and docile now, presumably thanks to their dispelling the corruption from the cavern below) and the lake itself was so clear they could see to the bottom. Link sheathed his sword and shield for the moment and sat on the grass, seeing that there were no threats in the area. Zelda strapped her sword to her back and removed her helmet, letting the breeze blow through her hair. She sat down with her back to Link, and noticed his hand was stretched out on the ground. She thought back to the night before, when she had clung herself to his arm in a fit of petty, jealous rage. She had felt somewhat ashamed of that afterwards; it wasn't like they were a couple - hell, she had even said as much herself - so what had possessed her to act like that?

_Still,_ she thought to herself, _it would be nice if he would just hold my hand..._

Slowly and nervously, she crept her hand along the grass near his...

_I can't believe I'm doing this..._

Suddenly, the ground below them started to shake! Link instinctively threw himself on top of Zelda as a giant stone... _something_ rose up from the ground beneath them. Once it was fully exposed, the ground settled and was still again. "It stopped..." Link sighed.

Zelda let out a sigh of relief as well at the fact that they were both alive _and_ on dry land... then pushed Link off of her and into the lake. He came up spitting, fuming and swearing. "What the fuck was that all about?!"

She turned with a huff, crossing her arms defiantly. "Sorry. I just panicked." Indeed she had panicked... although she wouldn't admit that it hadn't necessarily been because of the giant rock bursting up out of the ground.

"You 'panicked...' right. You couldn't 'panic' in a way that ended up with me on dry land, I guess?"

"Shut up," she murmured.

"Anyway... holy shit, what is this?" Link finally took the opportunity to get a good look at the stone monolith that had risen up from beneath his and Zelda's feet. It was maybe twenty feet tall, with odd spirals and curls carved into the sides. There was a small round platform with what looked like a pedestal of some kind, and behind the platform was a strangely uniform wall. Above the wall there were more intricate designs carved into the stone - designs which Zelda faintly recognized. "Where have we seen that design before?"

"Now that you mention it, it does look familiar... wait a second!" Link grabbed the tablet from his belt and turned it over. The design on the back was exactly like the one on the top of the stone. "No way... that's un-frickin'-real. So this thing wasn't a complete waste of data after all. Maybe now we can figure out how to use it."

"Here's hoping... any ideas on how we do that?"

"Well, let's start with the pedestal. It's the only thing we can really interact with right here and now." With no clear-cut better ideas, they approached the pedestal. The one noticeable feature about it was a rectangular cutout surrounded by inert circuitry - the type of cutout a particular waist-carried object would fit into perfectly... if only they could figure out how. "Look there," Zelda said as she pointed at something inside the cutout. "It looks like some kind of lens... doesn't your tablet have a lens on the back of it?"

"You're right, it does. And it's offset to one side, which means this thing is only going to fit one way. Now the question is, how do we actually put it in?" Link tried inserting the tablet at an angle using the handle, and to their surprise it fit perfectly. Suddenly a voice started speaking out of nowhere:

_North, south, east, west  
__Lies the power to continue your quest  
__Travel there and activate  
__The powers of your Sheikah Slate  
__Twilight, time, wild, and wind,  
__The hero's challenges you must contend  
__Only then will you begin  
__To awaken the gods within_

Another quest dialog popped up:

_***Unique Quest***_

_**The Sheikah Slate**_

_**You found a small tablet in your inventory on launch day, called the 'Sheikah Slate.' After much searching, you discovered a pedestal that the slate fit into, but nothing else happened. A strange voice then advised you that the Sheikah Slate could only be activated by traveling in the four cardinal directions (north, east, south and west) in order to "awaken the gods within."**_

The dialog vanished after a few moments and the quest populated in both players' quest logs. "So we have to travel 'north, south, east and west' to find the power to make this Sheikah Slate work. Then presumably we come back here to 'awaken the gods within?' Where was all this during the beta?" Link said as he clipped the Sheikah Slate back onto his belt.

"I honestly have no idea," Zelda replied as she pulled up her map. "Well, this is interesting..."

"What is?"

"This lake and island are smack dab in the center of this floor."

"Hmm... that's pretty helpful information. Gives us a pretty solid reference point for our travels, I would say."

Zelda nodded. "Meantime, I say we head back to the village and see if we can't gather any additional information."

"Sounds like a plan."

Zelda grabbed him by the collar and pulled him eye-to-eye with her. "And this time, we do it _together_."

"I wouldn't dream of doing anything else... now would you please let me go?"

Zelda grinned and untwisted his collar, giving him a slight shove in the process. Link was ready this time, though, and grabbed Zelda by the wrist and flung _her_ into the lake. She swore, she struggled... and she sank. Link jumped in after her, horrified at the fact that he hadn't taken _the weight of her armor_ into consideration when he tossed her into the water. He pulled her up spitting, coughing and swearing even louder than before. "I swear to whatever gods this world adheres to, I'm going to slit your throat in your sleep one of these nights," Zelda fumed.

"Whatever... we're even now."

"Even?! I didn't try to drown you in a suit of full plate!"

"You threw me in the lake; I threw you in the lake. We're even."

"Ooooooooohhh... you are _so_ gonna pay for this!"

"Maybe..." Link scanned the lake; it was maybe two hundred meters to shore, well within his swimming capabilities. "But you gotta catch me first!" He dove into the water and took off. His mail armor weighed him down a little, but only to the point where he couldn't swim quite as fast as he normally would have been able to. About halfway across he turned back to check on Zelda, who was now _in her underwear and cutting through the water after him_! Link took off toward the shore, reaching the shallows mere seconds before his unencumbered partner. She equipped a simple blouse, skirt and boots, and then drew the biggest greatsword she had in her inventory. _Oh shit_, Link thought before taking off for the river. He was still a stronger swimmer than her, if only he could get his damned armor off... he tapped his chest and a dialog box appeared:

_**Footpad's Tunic**_

_**{{Change}}**_

_**{{Remove}}**_

That was it; that must be how Zelda removed her armor so quickly. He tapped "Remove," and his chain shirt and tabard disappeared into his inventory. Significantly unburdened, he jumped into the river with Zelda hot on his heels. Luckily for him, he had the river's current with him on top of being the stronger swimmer. Eventually the water carried him within a short sprint of the village gate. "Perfect," he thought aloud as he reequipped his armor. "Just gotta make it inside the gate and I'm safe." He took off running just as Zelda emerged from the water. The longer he extended the chase, the angrier she seemed to get. She was now taking wild swipes at him with her sword, out of reach but getting ever closer with each attempt. He crossed the gate with mere moments to spare, and turned around just in time to catch the hilt of Zelda's sword flush to the chin. While he didn't lose any HP thanks to the safe zone's protection, the sheer force of the blow knocked him clean off his feet, much to the shock of the players who were starting to gather in the village.

Link came around sometime later with Zelda sitting on his chest. "It's about time you woke up. Here." She handed him a sandwich. "We should eat before we do anything else, so I bought us lunch."

_Lunch?_ "How long was I out?"

"Not long. Only a few seconds."

"Really? Feels like it was longer than that..."

"Nah. The game doesn't allow unconsciousness longer than sixty seconds. You maxed out 'cuz of a head injury."

"Because you hit me in the face."

"Which... caused a head injury."

"Whatever. Truce?"

"Eh, sure... whatever," Zelda said with a smirk as she helped Link to his feet.

The two ate lunch and gathered as much intel from the various NPCs in the village. They were able to piece together enough to have a decent shot at completing their Unique Quest within a day or two, depending on travel. What they learned was that the object that had risen from the island in the middle of the lake was a "shrine" of some sort, and there was one about an hour's march in each cardinal direction from the lake. The fields were full of monsters comfortably close to their player levels, so they could safely hunt while they traveled.

As they walked around the town, Ilia approached them again. "I heard you cleaned up the lake. Thank you so much!"

_*******Unique Quest Complete*******_

_**Reward: Activation Circuit**_

"I found this down by the riverbank the other day," Ilia continued. "I don't know what it's for, but you can have it. Take care!" She then ran off back to wherever she had come from, leaving Link to ponder over the odd computer chip sitting in his palm. "It's gotta be for the Sheikah Slate... what else do we have that could need to be activated?"

"Valid enough point," Zelda nodded.

"So let's see where this thing fits... ah, here!" Behind the handle was a small slot exactly the width of the activation circuit. The chip fit perfectly, and the device hummed with energy... but didn't seem to do much of anything else. "Well, at least it seems like it's... kind of working now?"

"Yeah... hopefully we'll learn more about it at these shrines."

Armed with their weapons and as much information as they hoped to gain from the small village, they set out to the south in search of the first shrine. Their intel proved to be accurate, as they got there after about an hour and a half. The pedestal was different, needing only to be touched by the Sheikah Slate in order for the "wall" to be revealed as a door made up of two dozen stone beams, which swung inward to reveal what looked like a platform. Far from incredulous at this point, Link and Zelda stepped on the platform and descended into the dark earth. They emerged in a small room, with a huge, ornate wall separating them from another, larger room. On the far side of the room was a set of bars, blocking what he presumed to be the exit. There was an arch in the wall, which Link _knew_ would slam shut as soon as they walked through it. "Stay close to me," he said to Zelda as he took up his shield and sword. Zelda nodded and kept up next to him. True to Link's instinct, as soon as they had walked through the arch a set of bars slammed shut behind them. "Well, what do we do now?"

"Hmm... good question. See that pit in the middle of the room?"

"Yeah..."

"Someone or something is going to rise up from it and try to fight us. We win, the other gate opens and we leave. That simple."

"How do you know?"

"Because I've played a video game or two in my time."

"Oh... right."

Almost on cue, a platform rose up from the pit, creating an even floor. On this platform was a skeleton, dressed in a green tunic and hat, with tan tights and boots. It carried a sword and shield like Link, except its sword was in its left hand. It charged menacingly, shooting lasers from its eyes as it got closer. "Watch out!" Zelda cried, shoving Link aside and blocking the beams with her greatsword. "You okay?"

"Yeah, no damage. You?"

"Minimal. Get behind me and watch its attack patterns."

"Right!"

The skeleton moved and attacked jerkily, so the two had no problems whittling its health down to 50 percent. At that point, it started using a new attack: spinning its head around 360 degrees and shooting lasers at the floor. Zelda couldn't block the beams, and she and Link were both swept off their feet and knocked out of range. They regrouped quickly, charging in and slashing at their enemy until its health had dropped down to 25 percent. Then it began charging up a great deal of energy, like it was preparing for a massive final laser blast. "We have to split up! It can't target us both!" Zelda cried.

"What if it targets you?"

"I'll be fine! Just get behind it and start smashing the ever loving hell out of it!"

"All right, you got it!" Link sprinted around to the other side of the room, and the creature's gaze tracked him. "It's following me!"

"I see that! Turn it all the way around and guard with your shield!"

Link did as he was instructed, putting a good deal of distance between himself and the skeleton and hunkering down behind his shield. _Wait a sec_, he thought to himself, at this range, _I should be able to dodge anything that thing tries to shoot at me. _Fortunately he never got the chance, as it soon collapsed in a heap and exploded in a shower of sparks. Zelda had quite prudently and efficiently 'smashed the ever loving hell out of it' before it could get off a shot.

Once the last of the dust had settled, the gate on the far end of the room opened, revealing a small platform. They approached it and a ghost appeared in the air in front of them. It was dressed the same as the skeleton they had just fought, but its weapons were on its back. It spoke to them in a haunting, yet not entirely threatening voice:

_I am the Shade of the Wild._

_Ages ago, I took my place in the legends of the Calamity._

_Many times has it reared its head against the land of Hyrule, and always has a Hero risen to drive it back._

_Now, a new Calamity like never before threatens to wipe out this new world of Aincrad, and so a Hero must once again confront it._

_Defeat the Shades and conquer the shrines on this floor, and learn your true destiny._

The shade seemingly then tossed a small medallion towards Link. It spun slowly in the air as it hovered above Link's hands:

_**Medallion of the Wild**_

_**A small token bestowed upon you after challenging and defeating the Shade of the Wild, stored in your Sheikah Slate. Acquiring all four will open a new way forward.**_

Link tapped the dialog box, and the medallion disappeared from view. The shade then finished speaking:

_May the Triforce light the way of the Hero._

With that, the spirit disappeared and Link and Zelda were teleported back to the surface entrance of the shrine. Link checked his Sheikah Slate, and noticed four LEDs on the handle, one of which was illuminated. With the path in front of them that much clearer, they circumnavigated the countryside in search of the three other shrines. They defeated the Shade of Time in the east, the Shade of Winds in the north, and the Shade of Twilight in the west (the toughest fight of the four, due to its ability to morph into a ghost wolf during the fight). They were now working well into the night, and decided to retreat to the safety of the village inn. Unfortunately it was completely booked, so they were forced to teleport back to the Town of Beginnings, where they were able to find a place to sleep. They set their normal tasks of resupplying, loot sorting and selling for the morning, climbing into bed as soon as they could.

As Zelda buried her back into Link's chest and wrapped his arms around her, she felt all the day's stresses, wears and tears just... disappear like magic. Shrines, shades, eyeballs, calamities, heroes, gods... all of it be damned.

Link was _her_ Hero.


	5. Floor 1 (IV): Back To The Lakebed Shrine

**===== Floor 1: Town of Beginnings =====**

Zelda stirred out of her sleep a little after sunrise. Link's arms were still wrapped around her, and one of his legs was draped across hers. She tried to move around a little bit, but every time she did Link would pull her even tighter and closer to him, to the point where she was wearing him like a human blanket.

_This is actually crazy comfortable,_ she thought to herself. _I could get used to this... but should I? Eh, what the hell..._

She snuggled in to go back to sleep, but before she did her eyes happened to catch her HP bar, with a line of buff icons underneath it. _Did... did someone cast a spell on me in my sleep? And how, when we've been at the inn this whole time? _"Link? Link! Wake up, Link!"

Link gradually stirred awake. "What?"

"Where did all these buffs come from?"

Link looked at Zelda's HP bar, and saw the same line of icons she did. "Did you cast a spell on me in my sleep or something?"

"How? There's no magic in this game... now go back to sleep."

"O... okay." She laid back down, allowing Link to wrap an arm around her. This time, however, his hand landed firmly around her breast! Zelda was flustered and didn't know how to react.

_Okay, getting a little _too _comfortable there... but I can't say it doesn't feel good._

She was still processing the situation when Link let loose a jet of warm breath _right on the nape of her neck_, sending her flying out of bed and crashing into the wall. Link jumped up with a start and looked around in a panic, only to see Zelda on the floor trying to fight her way free from a tangle of sheets and blankets. "Umm... do you need some help down there?" Link asked.

"Nope! I'm fine! Just need to, umm... take a shower!" she stammered as she finally got loose and sprinted into the shower. She stripped naked and turn the water on as hard and as cold as it would get. _Holy shit, I was not at all prepared for that..._

Meanwhile, Link had decided on a hunch to go through his Skills list, and had arrived at a section called "Unique Skills." There were a dozen or so blank entries marked with "?," but one unlocked entry caught his attention:

* * *

**_Well-Rested_**

_Player 'Zelda' finds comfort in sleeping next to you, increasing her mood and combat efficiency._

_STR, AGI, DEF increased_

_All skills increased_

_Effectiveness: 6%/8%/10% plus 1% per caster level_

_Cast time: 6/7/8 hours_

_Duration: 12 hours or until a significant shift in target's mental status._

_Limitations: Can only be cast on player 'Zelda.'_

* * *

_So she gets buffs from sleeping with me?_ Link was extremely perplexed at the fact that such a thing would exist in the game at all, then infuriated at the one-sidedness of it. "Wait a second, what kind of bullshit is that?!"

"What kind of bullshit is what?" Zelda was out of the shower, and she stood in the room with her hands on her hips wearing nothing but the pixels the programmers gave her.

"The fact that your naughty bits are blurred out," Link lied.

"Blurred out? Oh... that's because you haven't activated 'Moral Code Removal.'"

"Moral Code... Removal?"

"Yup. Here, let me show you."

"Before or after you put some clothes on?"

"Aww... what's the matter? We're in a virtual world where literally anything outside these town walls could kill us, but you're afraid of seeing a girl naked?"

"If that's what you want to call it, sure."

"No."

"...What?"

"I said, no."

"No, as in...?"

"No, as in I'm not putting my clothes on until you've seen me naked, completely and uncensored. Nipples, chocha and all."

Link just stared at Zelda, completely dumbstruck. "You really have gone out of your mind... you know that, right?"

"Funny you would use that expression, in a virtual world where our brains are the only thing that actually works."

"You make a good point... now get dr-"

"I SAID NO!"

Now Link was shocked; he couldn't remember the last time Zelda (or Lanay, for that matter) actually yelled at him. It was something she simply didn't do; even if she was pissed off at him, she always calmed down before she actually spoke. "Okay... I'm just gonna chalk this new boldness up to being trapped in the game."

"Is that really such a bad thing?"

"You actually have me questioning that right here and now." He stood up at the edge of the bed. "Now, for the last time, put some clo-"

Link didn't even have time to complete his demand before Zelda shoved him into the wall, took his legs out from under him and mounted him. Now, Link was _scared_; his strength parameters were lagging behind Zelda's, but he hadn't realized they were to the point where she could physically overpower him now. The weird thing is, if this were _any woman other than his lifelong best friend,_ he would be incredibly turned on right now. Now he was just confused, but confusion would have to wait. His first priority was getting off the floor.

_Dammit... if I was anywhere but on the floor, I could probably take her. Wait a second..._

He remembered a move from his jiujitsu training; if he could just flex his knee without Zelda noticing...

Link managed to get his foot flat on the ground a split second before Zelda noticed something amiss; by the time he popped his hips off the ground, it was too late and there was nothing she could do to keep from ending up on her back. However, she _was_ quick enough to lock her legs around Link's waist before he could stand up.

"You have got to be kidding me," he gasped. "How are you this friggin' strong?"

"How have you never noticed how strong I've always been?" she retorted, now holding herself upright using only her seemingly inhumanly-powerful quads.

"Again, fair point. Now let me go."

Zelda crossed her arms over her chest and pulled herself up to Link's eye level. "Make. Me."

Link sighed. "If you insist." He then performed the one maneuver she wouldn't have expected in a million years.

He kissed her.

Deeply.

Strongly.

Passionately.

Hands in hair, tongue in mouth, a _real_ kiss!

Zelda didn't know what to do, and she went absolutely limp. Link guided her gently to the bed before finally breaking contact. Zelda was seeing stars behind closed eyes; all she wanted was more, for this moment never to end. She anxiously awaited Link's next move...

...and waited...

...and waited...

...and waited some more...

Until she finally sat up and opened her eyes to see Link now fully dressed. "Umm, what the hell are you doing?"

"Getting dressed... we do still have a world to save, after all. You should probably do the same thing."

Zelda's expression went from one of confusion to one of fury. "You cheated!"

"Mmm... pretty much."

A sword was in Zelda's hand before clothes were on her body. Link dashed out the door, knowing one thing about the inn system: players couldn't leave their rooms fully nude. Having to stop to dress herself would give Link the extra time he needed to make a satisfactory getaway. Sure, she'd catch him eventually, and she'd kick his ass when she did, but it was worth it to prove that he could in fact outsmart her.

With nothing to do other than wait for her inevitable wrath, Link decided to further investigate his Sheikah Slate since he hadn't really done much with it. It contained its own map function, which was a lot more detailed than the in-game map which only showed roads, villages, and bodies of water. The slate showed contour lines as well as different colored areas for changing terrain. Each village had its own landmark, as did the five shrines they had visited the day before. The four small shrines they had entered and fought the various Shades were blue, the fifth in the center of the lake was yellow, and the villages were green. He scrolled one screen to the left, and there were eight blank squares. _Those will probably be important later, _he thought to himself as he scrolled two screens right, past the map and to another grid of blank squares, five tall and six wide for a total of thirty. More swipes right, more blank grids. Clearly this little device did more than he could fathom at the moment.

True enough, Zelda strode out of the inn a few minutes later, fully dressed in her plate armor and with her greatsword strapped to her back. Link noticed her presence but casually ignored her, sitting on a bench drinking some water. She put her arms across his chest from behind him and whispered in his ear. "Oh Li-i-nk?"

"Mmm?"

She brought her arms up slowly. "Partner? Buddy? Friend? Companion?"

"What?"

"You wanna know the first thing I'm gonna do when we get out into the field?" She tilted his head upwards so she could look him in the eyes.

"What is tha-"

"Toss your lifeless body in the river." She now had him in a chokehold, and with her superior leverage he was out in no time.

Link eventually woke up on the ground with the heel of Zelda's boot planted firmly in his chest. "Well, hello there, sunshine... it's about time you woke up."

"Woke up...? Oh, that's right... you snuck up behind me and choked me out."

"That's right, I did... now get up so we can get moving."

"Really? Is that really what we do now?"

"Yup... oh, and you owe me lunch besides."

"How do you figure?"

"You pretended that you were going to make love to me and then totally left me hanging. In exchange, I want lunch from your share of yesterday's loot."

"My share? Why does-"

"In fact, I want a picnic, on that island we found yesterday."

"Are you kidding? It'll take us at least three days to get back there!"

"Don't care... make it happen, cap'n."

Link pulled up his map. "You say that like I can snap my fingers and get us there. We're all the way in the Town of Beginnings, remember? Even if we cut through the fields and didn't run into a single monster on our way there, it'd still take two days to get back to Lakeside Village."

Zelda stood up and dug her heel even deeper into Link's chest. "What part of 'I - Don't - Care' is so difficult to comprehend?"

Link grabbed Zelda's ankle and lifted her foot up - gods, had she really always been this strong? Naturally she fought against him until she could no longer maintain her balance, and she had to put her foot down to avoid falling. Link got up quickly before she could hold him down again, brushing himself off and straightening out his clothes. "You can be a real brat when you want to, you know that?"

"I guess so... but you're stuck with me, so I'm _your_ brat." She climbed up onto his back, almost crushing him under the weight of her armor yet he somehow managed to hold them both up. "Giddy-up, horsey!"

"You realize I'm suffering a movement penalty right now, right?"

"Don't care."

"Meaning... it's going to take us even longer to get anywhere if you expect me to carry you?"

"Don't care."

"Can you at least take off your armor, so I can actually move?"

"You are such a whiner, you know that? All right, fine." She removed her armor and equipped a light shirt and skirt. "There, better?"

"Much." Sufficiently unencumbered, Link took off at a sprint toward the town gate. Zelda screamed with glee, causing Link to smile himself. At the end of the day, he couldn't help but enjoy making her happy.

They didn't get far past the town gate when a shout from above halted Link in his tracks. He looked up to see a man standing on top of the town wall, about forty feet in the air. He jumped and pulled a piece of canvas seemingly out of thin air, using it as a glider to reach the ground where they were standing. There wasn't much remarkable about him, other than his white beard and hair which he kept under the hood of his coat. Neither Link nor Zelda noticed any weapons, so they kept theirs unequipped for the moment. "You look like you're having trouble getting around." The man spoke with a hearty and kind voice, like he might be some sort of tutorial NPC.

"You could say that," Zelda said, hiding behind Link.

"Tell you what: why don't you poke around with that tool on your hip?"

"You're talking about my Sheikah Slate," Link responded with more than a slight hint of suspicion in his voice. The man said nothing, just grinned and walked away.

"Well, come on... whip it out," Zelda said.

"Umm, phrasing?" Link responded, pulling up the Slate's map screen. He tapped the northernmost shrine icon, and a dialog box opened:

**_Winds' Respite_**

**_{Teleport}_**

**_{Cancel}_**

Without a word, Link hit the 'Teleport' option, causing his surroundings to blur, twist and distort. When everything cleared, he and Zelda were both standing on the platform of one of the shrines. He checked his map and sure enough, they were at the northern shrine. "Holy shit, this thing can actually warp us around," Link marveled aloud.

"That's good to know, but a little warning would be nice next time."

Link shrugged. "But did you die?"

"You _do_ remember we're not in the safe zone anymore, right?" Zelda sneered as she equipped her armor and weapons.

"Your point?"

"_My _point isn't the one that matters," she said, pointing her sword in his face.

"Oh please, you know as well as I do that you'd never actually hurt me in the field."

Zelda opened her mouth to retort, but closed it just as quickly. "Whatever, let's just go." Of course she would never bring herself to actually harm him, but she also refused to admit he was right, regardless of how blatantly obvious the issue was.

The two fought their way back to the center of the floor and the lake's shore. "What do you say? Probably quicker to swim there rather than go back down to the cave and climb the stairs," Link suggested as he stripped down to his undershorts.

"On one condition."

"What's that?"

She reached up and gave him a peck on the cheek. "You start making lunch as soon as you reach the island."

Link grinned. "Deal."

Zelda beamed. There was just something about that smile that Link couldn't help but love; seeing his best friend happy was his single joy in this strange new world. Yet, thinking about her as his best friend somehow seemed... weird. Which in itself was weird because that's exactly what she was.

Or was it?

Was she trying to become something more?

Chris was very familiar with the "notice me, senpai" anime trope, and Lanay/Zelda was exhibiting a lot of those same behaviors. Yet there was something else to her new attitude. She acted completely at ease around him, even when going to the physical extremes she often exhibited. Almost as if her behavior was completely normal...

A shocking revelation hit him in the face... literally. Well, not so much a shocking revelation as a shocking bra and panties.

Zelda was standing in front of him naked.

Again.

Because why not? In her mind, the shore of a lake no other players probably even knew about was the perfect place to strip down and bare her pixels for the world and GMs to see.

"Well? You coming or what?" Zelda smirked as she ran into the lake and started swimming.

Link facepalmed briefly before jumping into the water after her. _What am I going to do with this woman?_

They reached the island and put their clothes back on, and Link began to cook lunch in the shadow of the giant stone obelisk. Zelda lay in the grass, watching him with the most ridiculous grin on her face and giving not a care in the world to the fact that she was acting like a schoolgirl around her childhood crush.

Watching him working at putting together what looked to be a _phenomenal_ meal, all just because she had asked him to (okay, maybe 'asked' wasn't exactly the right word, but still...) and realizing the lengths he would go to if it meant making her happy... not to mention how safe she felt whenever he was around... and how well she slept in his arms...

Suddenly she felt damn foolish. How had neither of them seen it before this?

As Link served the food and they ate leaning against the shrine wall, she wormed her way underneath his arm in order to get closer to him. Link of course said nothing, merely adjusting so he could still eat while both of them were comfortable. She lay with her head in his lap, grinning stupidly while she watched him eat. Link tried his best to avoid looking down at her, as it was just so damn awkward. Then again, she had become the champion of making things awkward since they had been trapped in this death game, with her random stripping and domineering ways. But it was worth it if it meant keeping that idiotic grin on her face.

They finished eating, and Zelda curled up like a kitten in Link's lap, clearly intending to not move for some time. Link accommodated her, stroking her hair until she fell asleep. He watched her breathing rhythmically, so peacefully... and it was kind of hard to tell for certain from the angle she was laying at, but he could've sworn he saw her smiling.

_Wonder what she's dreaming about_, Link wondered to himself.

She woke up a few minutes later, as the sun was beginning to rise over the statue and eliminate their shade. "How long was I out for?" she asked Link as she stood up and stretched.

"Not long. Maybe half an hour."

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

Link scoffed as he cleaned up their campsite. "You know why I didn't wake you up."

"I see... listen, Li- Chris... there's something I-"

She was quickly silenced by his mouth over hers. He pulled her so close to him, he may as well have been trying to merge their bodies right there. She didn't hesitate to respond in kind, for this kiss had the passion she had been craving for so long.

_More..._

Her entire body was on fire at this point. No matter how close she pulled herself to him, and him to her, it still didn't feel close enough.

_More..._

She was the one to break away from the kiss, heaving and panting. As he held her close, she could barely hear his heart thundering in his chest over her own mind screaming.

_What the fuck just happened?!_

Eventually, she got everything together enough to look Link in the eyes again. When she did, he gave her another gentle kiss on the lips and whispered, "Come on... we've got a world to save."

...Of course they did.


	6. Floor 1 (V): What Is Understood

**===== Floor 1: Lakebed Shrine =====**

Link and Zelda inserted the Sheikah Slate into the pedestal once again. This time the mouth of the shrine opened, and they took the platform down into the earth. The shaft ended in a small room filled with a soft blue light, and the walls were ringed with torches that burned with a curious blue flame. Link took note of the layout of the room; it was octagonal with four doors, one in each cardinal direction and each with a different symbol carved into it. The northern door had a magnet design on it; the east, a bomb; the south, a lock; and the west, a snowflake. In the center was an altar with five spherical recesses. "Five holes, four doors...?" The inconsistency was not lost on Zelda.

"Yeah, but look at the one in the middle: it's got crossed swords on it. I'd bet there's a major fight tied to that."

"That seems like a safe bet. Meanwhile, let's start with the four doors."

"Sounds like a plan, and north is always a good place to start."

The pair approached the northern door and slid it open. It slid shut behind them, and a voice began to speak.

_To you who sets foot in this shrine, I am Oman Au._

_In the name of the Goddess Hylia, I offer this trial._

**===== Magnesis Trial =====**

In front of Link and Zelda were two giant slabs of metal on the floor, and a stone pedestal with a giant stone obelisk hanging over it off to the left. Embedded in the wall to the front were iron bars.

Seeing no other way forward, the only prudent course of action seemed to be to investigate the pedestal. Naturally, there was a place for the Sheikah Slate, similar to the one outside. Link inserted the Slate into the pedestal, and a message spoke from it:

_Sheikah Slate authenticated. Distilling rune..._

The stone above the pedestal was suddenly covered in shifting runes. After a few moments, a single 'drop' of light formed at the bottom of the stone and fell neatly into the center of the Slate. Link peered into the screen, and saw the grid of eight blank squares he had noticed earlier. The only difference was, one of the squares was no longer blank. Rather, there was a pink magnet, and some notes:

* * *

_Magnesis_

_Manipulate metallic objects using magnetism._

_Grab on to metallic objects using the magnetic energy that pours forth from the Magnesis rune. Objects held in the magnetic snare can be **lifted up and moved freely.**_

* * *

"Lifted up and moved freely..." Link repeated, taking the Sheikah Slate from the pedestal.

"Link, check it out!" Zelda drew his attention back to the metal panels on the floor.

"All right... let's see what this thing can really do." Link tapped the Magnesis icon, and the screen cast a pink light over everything in its field of vision. As the metal panels came into view, they glowed a bright pink, and turned yellow when Link aimed the lens on the back of the Sheikah Slate directly at them. He tapped the magnet icon in the upper left corner of the screen, and a beam of light shot out of the lens and attached to the metal panel. Link toyed with the Slate and found that rotating it moved the panel around, and that he could bring objects closer or push them farther away by keeping the Slate parallel and moving it forward or backward. With a basic understanding of how Magnesis worked, he tossed both panels aside, revealing a ladder leading to a lower passage.

The passage turned left, then split off to the left and right. They checked the left passage first, and happened to find a treasure chest. Inside was a Royal Skirt.

"Ugh, 'Royal?' Don't tell me they're gonna try to make me look like some dainty, fragile princess or something..."

"That would almost be worth the price of admission."

Zelda slugged Link in the chest. "Not funny!"

They then took the right path and found a wall of stone blocks with a single metal block built in. The Magnesis rune handled that chore easily, grasping the metal block and using it to push the stone blocks out of the way. Before Link could clear all the blocks, Zelda happened to notice a robot on the other side. Link put down the block and hunkered down behind the wall so that he and Zelda could scout it from behind cover.

"What is it?" Zelda asked.

"I don't know... it's got an HP bar and a red cursor, though."

"Then it's gotta have a name." She looked hard and sure enough, the name 'Guardian Scout I' was displayed over its single eye.

"So, we know what it's called... that's good. Now, how do we get past it?"

"Like this..." Link grabbed the metal block once again, lifting it as high as he could. "It's made of metal, and looks fairly fragile..." He aimed the positioning reticle right on top of the robot, and then turned the rune off. The block fell some thirty, forty feet through the air, crushing the automaton in a shower of sparks and scraps. Some of the scraps even had tooltips of their own, and could be collected as items.

With the Guardian disposed of, Zelda focused her attention on their next obstacle: a trio of platforms, but only one metal panel to use as a bridge between them. This was a fairly easy puzzle to solve; they simply crossed the bridge over the first gap, then used Magnesis to bridge the second. Before crossing, Link used Magnesis to bring a treasure chest to him, which contained the Champion's Leggings. Beyond that was a pair of giant metal doors, which Link swung open easily enough to reveal the end of this wing of the shrine. Before them was what looked like a magical cage with a strange looking... body, inside it. The only thing that made the sight any sort of reassuring was the marking on the cage; it was the same design that was found on the back of the Sheikah Slate. Link tapped the marking, and the magical barriers surrounding the dais broke (although thankfully, the body itself remained still). The voice that had welcomed them to the trial spoke once again:

_You have proven to possess the resolve of true heroes._

_I am Oman Au, the creator of this trial._

_I am a humble monk, blessed with the sight of the Goddess Hylia and dedicated to helping those who seek to defeat the Calamity._

_With your arrival, my duty is now fulfilled._

_In the name of the Goddess Hylia, allow me to bestow this gift upon you._

_Please accept this Spirit Orb. _

A purple ball flew out of the monk's chest and into Link's, being absorbed into his body. A dialogue box popped up:

* * *

_Spirit Orb_

_A symbol of courage given to those who have overcome the challenges of a shrine._

* * *

The monk spoke one final time:

_May the Triforce light the way of the Hero._

It then disappeared in a shower of green sparks. Link and Zelda were then warped back to the center of the shrine where they had first entered.

"Okay, thoughts?" Zelda asked, taking the time to go over all they had learned before moving forward.

"So, here's this tablet that has the power of all these different runes. But, the runes have to be unlocked first - which is why we're in here. And we need to use these runes to advance through the game and defeat the 'Calamity,' which I presume is the final boss on floor 100. Along the way, we're probably going to find more of these Shrines with more of these trials where we gather up these 'Spirit Orbs,' although what exactly we're supposed to do with them isn't entirely clear yet. It seems logical that we need five of them to activate this altar, the fifth one is tied to a major battle, which may or may not be in this shrine. Anything else?"

"We only saw that one Guardian Scout in the Magnesis wing, and I think it was just to demonstrate how metal on metal works in this world. It's probably safe to say there aren't a whole lot of enemies in the other three wings. They're more tutorials for the runes themselves than actual combat trials. Also, we should definitely keep an eye out for treasure chests. I think that about covers the right here and right now."

Link nodded. "Right. Then let's move on to the next door."

Past the east door Link and Zelda saw another pedestal, and stone blocks at the foot of a ramp. Again a voice spoke to them from out of nowhere, identical to the first monk:

_To you who sets foot in this shrine, I am Ja Baij._

_In the name of the Goddess Hylia, I offer this trial._

**===== Bomb Trial =====**

Link placed the Shiekah Slate into the pedestal, and this time got two runes instead of just one.

* * *

_Remote Bomb_

_A bomb that can be detonated remotely._

_The force of the blast can be used to **damage monsters or destroy objects.** There are both round and cube bombs, so use whichever best fits the situation._

* * *

Link tapped the round bomb icon, and a sphere of energy appeared at his feet. He picked it up and it felt firm, yet almost weightless. It felt like it had just enough mass to stay where it was placed, while still being light enough to throw. He tapped the cube bomb icon, and instantly the sphere became a cube. "Looks like we can only have one bomb out at a time. I'd hardly call that convenient. But, I guess we'll make it work."

Zelda tossed the cube down the ramp, near the wall of stone blocks. Link tapped the icon again and it detonated, destroying the blocks. As they proceeded down the ramp, they made note of the blast radius for safety considerations. Following the passageway to the left, they came upon a ladder. Climbing it revealed a pit, a wall of stone blocks, and a platform floating back and forth over the pit.

"So, we have to figure out how to get a bomb close enough to the wall to blow it up, without blowing ourselves up in the process," Link noted.

"Hey, I have an idea! Why don't you put one of those cube bombs on the far edge of that platform, then detonate it when it gets to the other side?"

Link appraised the situation, then gave Zelda a kiss on the forehead. "That is an absolutely phenomenal idea."

He turned to put her plan into action, not noticing the idiotic grin that had surfaced on Zelda's face once again.

Link hopped on the platform when it reached their side, and dropped a cube bomb at the very edge. He rode it back to the side of the pit where Zelda was waiting (without said idiotic grin) and hopped off, letting the bomb ride back across the pit. Once it reached the far side again he detonated the bomb, which destroyed the entire wall exactly as Zelda had planned. They traversed the pit and found themselves in a wide open room with a pair of piston-like platforms that were each fed by a funnel. On the other side of each platform was a set of stone blocks. Link figured the puzzle out fairly quickly, but decided to hear Zelda's analysis before taking action.

"Hmm... I think we drop a round bomb into the funnel, the platform launches it across the room, and you detonate it in midair."

"Sounds like a good idea to me." Another good idea earned another forehead kiss. This time Zelda couldn't wait until Link turned his back before that grin came back. Not that he was bothered in the slightest; he knew what she was going to say on the island, which is why he was being so liberal with his physical affections now. The problem was... he didn't have the _words_ to respond. Actions would have to do for now.

What was understood need not be explained.

Again Zelda's idea worked flawlessly. The blocks on the left hid a treasure chest, which Zelda went to retrieve and found both the Champion's Gauntlets and Royal Gloves inside. The blocks on the right hid another Guardian Scout, which scuttled about on the platform oblivious to their presence despite its eye pointing in their direction.

"I don't think it sees us... maybe we're too far from it," Link said.

"You're right. We could climb up to that platform and take it out easily enough."

"Yeah, let's do-"

"No, wait! I have a better idea!" Zelda said excitedly.

"O..kay... what is it?"

"Give me a bomb. A round one."

"Sure thing." He produced a round bomb and tossed it to her, curious as to exactly what she had in mind.

"Okay, now get ready to blow it."

"Now?"

"Of course not, dummy."

"Then when?"

Zelda grinned. "Trust me, you'll know when."

Link shrugged and kept his finger ready over the detonation icon, wondering what the hell this woman had in mind.

Zelda sized up the Guardian. _Distance, elevation, blast radius... got it._ She placed the bomb on the ground, took a couple of small steps back, and gave Link a thumbs-up. At that point, her plan became crystal clear. "Ready!" he shouted.

"Here goes!" She took an exaggerated step forward, and kicked the bomb across the pit. It flew in a beautiful arc right at the Guardian Scout, and Link detonated it at just the right moment, destroying the robot. Zelda jumped for joy at the fact that her plan had worked, and because Link had trusted her with it without a full explanation. He gave her yet another forehead kiss, and this time she didn't bother trying to hide her glee. Apparently, she loved forehead kisses - or did she love _him_, and the forehead kisses just came with the territory?

Honestly, who gives a damn?

The monk Ja Baij sat in another cage, and granted another Spirit Orb for completing the Bomb Trial. Link and Zelda were warped back to the central room, and Zelda paused to ask Link's thoughts on the Goddess Hylia that both monks had spoken of.

"I don't know, and it seems really weird," he said. "This game doesn't really seem to focus on any particular mythology, so the idea of gods and goddesses just seems weird. Up until now, this MMO has been focused purely on physical, sword-based combat. The idea of gods, shrines, legendary heroes of the past... it just doesn't seem to fit with what we know of SAO so far."

"You're right... you know what else doesn't fit?"

"What?"

"Why you and I were chosen to beta this game to begin with. We've never played VRMMOs before, we didn't own the _thousands_ of dollars of hardware required to play this game, the company we've never heard of, bought products from or interacted with gives it to us for free... nothing about us being here in Aincrad makes any sense whatsoever."

"Definitely not gonna argue that point."

"And why are we the ones with all these 'Unique Quests?' Why are we the ones with these unique items nobody else knows anything about? Certainly some of the other beta testers have VRMMO experience... why not them? Why us?"

"I wish I knew..."

Zelda sighed. "Me too... in any event, let's clear this place and get out of here."

She started to walk toward the southern door, but Link placed a firm hand on her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. She turned back to face him, only to see him staring off at the floor. "Link? What's wrong?"

At the sound of his name, he looked up at her like he was fighting for words. Every time he opened his mouth to speak, nothing came out. Finally, he just gave up with a frustrated grunt. She was about to ask him what his deal was, but she never got the chance.

He pulled her close by the shoulders and kissed her again.

She was taken completely by surprise. This was new...

Wait... no, it wasn't.

It felt like the first time he had kissed her.

She closed her eyes and drifted back to that moment. It wasn't the touch of his lips that she remembered most, or the strength of his arms. It was the fire in his eyes and the resolve in his voice when they made a promise to each other.

_"Get as strong as we can, and stay alive."_

When they broke apart, she saw it again. The fire in his eyes that said what his mouth could not, so she said it for him.

"Get as strong as we can..."

He finished the vow for her. "...And stay alive."

Their covenant renewed, they proceeded through the southern door where they were greeted by a now familiar voice:

_To you who sets foot in this shrine, I am Owa Daim._

_In the name of the Goddess Hylia, I offer this trial._

**===== Stasis Trial =====**

By now, the routine was familiar. Link attached the Sheikah Slate to the rune pedestal to the right of the door, making note of a platform attached to a rotating wheel. Remembering the lock engraved on the door, he had some idea of what to expect, and was delighted when his suspicions were confirmed.

* * *

_Stasis Rune_

_Stop the flow of time for an object._

_Stops an object in time while storing its **kinetic energy.** The stored energy will act upon the object when the flow of time resumes. Making good use of the stored energy can **move even the largest of objects.**_

* * *

Link tapped the Stasis icon on the Sheikah Slate, and the field of vision turned yellow this time instead of pink. Items that could be targeted glowed bright yellow when aimed at, including the rotating wheel that was attached to the platform that they would presumably need to use to cross the first pit. He simply waited until the platform was level to freeze the wheel, hurrying himself and Zelda across it before the effect wore off.

Next the pair faced a narrow ramp, which seemed harmless enough... until giant stone balls began falling from a chute in the ceiling and rolling down said ramp before falling into the abyss behind them.

"We can't take the ramp, we'll get crushed!" Zelda panicked.

"It's okay, we just gotta use very careful timing... there!" Link looked up the ramp and noticed a platform about three quarters of the way up. "That's where we need to move to. Now to observe the timing..."

They watched a few balls roll down and deduced some things. One, only one ball ever appeared at any one time. Two, there was about 20 seconds from spawn to spawn. The stasis effect lasted for about that long, meaning they would need about 15 seconds to climb the ramp and get to the safety of the platform. Three, stopping a ball before it rolled off the edge was near impossible due to their speed, meaning the only way to move forward would be to stop it at the very top of the ramp, before it reached the platform.

"Okay, here's what we'll do: I'll stop the first ball, and when I do you run like hell up the ramp. Once you get to the platform, wait for me and I'll come up behind you."

"All right." Zelda was still nervous, but she trusted Link's plan. After all, he had trusted hers without hesitation; it was only fair she do the same.

They took up positions off to the side of the bottom of the ramp, and waited for a stone ball to roll past. Link stepped in front of the ramp and activated Stasis, aiming for the top of the ramp where the ball would spawn.

"Keep in mind: this thing has a 30-second cooldown. Meaning if you don't make it up in time, I won't be able to keep the ball from crushing you."

Zelda gulped, but tried her best to remain calm. "Don't worry. I can make it."

When the next ball dropped from the chute, Link froze it in place. That was all the cue Zelda needed. She sprinted up the ramp like her life depended on it.

_You can do it..._

The Slate began to ping slowly, then faster as the effect started to wear off.

_Come on..._

Finally, Zelda reached the platform and threw herself to the side just as the ball started rolling again. Unfortunately, she threw herself too far and slid off the edge!

"ZELDA!"

"HELP ME!" She had managed to grab onto the edge, but had a tenuous grip at best. "I can't hold on!"

"I'm coming!"

There was no time to waste. As soon as the ball rolled past him, Link began his own ascent. He heard the ball fall into the abyss behind him and knew both his and Zelda's moments were numbered, for if the ball didn't kill him from the impact or push him over the edge, he still wouldn't make it to Zelda's defense and she would surely fall, and then he would have no reason for living himself.

Failure was simply not an option.

The next ball dropped at the top of the ramp. Both Link and the ball were about the same distance from the platform, which meant survival would come down to who or what made it there first.

One of Zelda's hands slipped off the ledge, leaving four fingertips all that stood between her and certain death. "I'm slipping!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

_...Stay alive._

Their shared promise rang out in his head like a rallying cry. Link roared as he willed himself to the top of the ramp, reaching the gap and diving out of the way of the rolling sphere with a split second to spare. He found Zelda, and with one hand pulled her up onto the platform with him.

Zelda was a shaking, crying mess, but she was alive.

He held onto her as she cried her fear out, relieved that she was shaken up but otherwise unhurt. Suddenly, he noticed a message at the top of his HUD:

_New Skill Unlocked!_

He opened his Skill menu and made his way to the section labeled 'Unique Skills,' where a new entry had been uncovered:

* * *

**_Adrenaline Rush_**

_Hearing your party members in danger spurs you to action._

_STR/AGI/DEF increased_

_Effectiveness: 150% plus 10% per 5 caster levels_

_Cast time: Instant_

_Duration: 30 seconds_

_Limitations: Automatic. 15 minute cooldown. STR/AGI/DEF decreased by 50% minus 1% per caster level for 2 minutes. Can only be triggered by party members._

* * *

Link looked up at his HP bar and saw the debuff timers ticking away. Oh well... right here and right now, he didn't give a damn. Zelda was safe, unharmed and unhurt. That was all he could focus on right here and now.

After taking a moment to gather themselves, they saw a treasure chest right behind them. Link opened it to find a pair of Royal Greaves inside. Zelda cheered up somewhat after hearing that, since 'Greaves' sounded a lot more like piece of armor than a piece of a frilly princess gown. They crossed to the other side of the platform where the shrine proper continued and came across a giant sledgehammer leaning against the wall, and another stone ball on the pathway leading to the exit. There was no way around the ball, which meant only one thing: they would have to figure out how to move it. Zelda wordlessly picked up the sledgehammer and walked up to the ball. Link froze it with Stasis, and Zelda wailed away at it with the hammer. The timer ticked down and the ball flew off the catwalk and into the abyss, allowing her to reach another treasure chest - this one contained the Champion's Boots - and the exit platform. One more monk freed, one more Spirit Orb collected, and they were back in the main chamber yet again. Link saw that Zelda was still shaken up, so he suggested that she wait for him there while he cleared the last wing of the shrine.

"No, I can go on. I'm okay, I promise."

Link hugged her gently, yet firmly. "No, you're not okay. I've _always_ been able to tell when you weren't okay, remember?"

This was true. There had been plenty of moments during their friendship when he would ask if she was okay, she would say 'yes,' he would say 'no you're not,' and he'd be right.

"Are you sure you can handle it without me?"

"That's really not the point. You need to rest, and you're no good to either of us if you're shaking like a leaf." He sat her down next to the altar, albeit after some resistance, until finally she relented. "There's a good girl," he whispered, punctuating it with another forehead kiss. "Wait for me here, and when I'm done we can go back to the inn. I'll make you dinner and we can get a good night's sleep."

_Good... girl?_ The world seemed to swim, but those two words rang out crystal clear in her mind. _He called me a good girl..._

Zelda smiled weakly. "Okay. I'll be a good girl, and wait for you here..." With that, the last of her strength left her and she fell asleep. Link cringed slightly at the idea of leaving her alone _and_ asleep, but he really had no other choice.

_Besides, she should be safe enough. No one else even knows about this place, much less how to get down here._

Convinced as he could make himself of his partner's safety, Link entered the western wing through the door with the snowflake on it. The disembodied voice greeted him once again:

_To you who sets foot in this shrine, I am Keh Namut._

_In the name of the Goddess Hylia, I offer this trial._

**===== Cryonis Trial =====**

Link raced straight to the pedestal and acquired the fourth and final rune he would find in this shrine:

* * *

_Cryonis _

_Create a pillar of ice from a water surface._

_Builds ice pillars that are very stable. These pillars can be used as **stepping stones** or as **obstacles.** Use Cryonis on an ice pillar to **break** it._

* * *

Directly in front of the door was a shallow pool of water in front of a ledge. Link created an ice pillar and climbed it to get to the ledge. "Easy enough," he thought out loud. Beyond the ledge, the entire area was covered in water. Not very deep at all, maybe just a few centimeters, but enough to allow him to use Cryonis whenever necessary. His next obstacle was a set of iron bars hanging down. An ice pillar lifted them up, allowing him to walk under the bars to the next area. He climbed a set of stairs to a raised platform, but before he moved on he spied a pair of treasure chests on a shelf. Unfortunately they were made of wood, so using Magnesis wasn't an option... but hopping across a Cryonis pillar to fetch the Champion's Cap and Royal Crown was simplicity itself. Returning to where he came led Link to a teeter-totter with stairs above each end, so he propped one end up with an ice pillar, climbed up to the exit platform, and returned to the main area with the fourth Spirit Orb in hand. He found Zelda exactly where he had left her, leaning against the altar and sleeping peacefully. Before he could decide what to do with her, another voice came from out of nowhere, jolting her awake.

_Children of the sword, you have done well._

_But there are yet other powers that lie sleeping in this temple._

_Return here once the way forward has been cleared._

"Return here?" Zelda moaned. "I don't wanna come back here, all I wanna do is go to bed." She was clearly still traumatized from her near-death experience earlier, so Link helped her to the elevator they had used to enter the shrine and made their way back to the surface. They stepped out into the cool night air and made their way back to Lakeside Village, sticking close to the river to avoid monsters. They found a room, and Zelda unequipped her armor in the hallway and crashed out immediately upon hitting the bed. _So much for dinner_, Link thought to himself, but he was still hungry so he set off into town to find something to eat. While he was out, he overheard a very interesting rumor: a scouting party had located the lair of the floor's dungeon boss, and a meeting was being held to discuss how to beat it two days from now in one of the other villages. Link digested every bit of information he could before heading back to the inn, where he found Zelda unmoved and undisturbed. It wasn't until now that it dawned on him that he had almost lost her earlier.

_Almost,_ said a little voice in his head. _But you didn't. You were there for her the way you always have been. When she needed you most, you threw yourself into danger to rescue her._

Despite her inability to hear them, he finally allowed himself to say out loud the words he had been holding back for lord knows how long.

"Because I love her."

* * *

_**A/N: TwistedViper20XX here!**_

_**So, this chapter ended up being a little bit long - I typically aim for about 3,000 words - but to separate the temple in half would have left two uneven length chapters. Plus if you can't tell, the next chapter will delve into SAO canon a little bit, so it made more sense to make the Lakebed Shrine all one chapter before proceeding on.**_

_**Speaking of the Lakebed Shrine, each wing is one of the four Great Plateau shrines in "Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild." If you haven't played that game, first of all, what's wrong with you? Second, there are plenty of YouTube videos with playthroughs that you can watch to get an idea of how each shrine progresses. I will be faithful to any shrines and dungeons in this story, so if you ever want to visualize what's going on as you read, YouTube is the place to go.**_

_**Now, I'm sure you've noticed the 'Unique Skills' and how they might seem a little... unfair. The reason I'm including them is actually more for the romance part of the story than the gameplay. They're meant to mimic and quantify the human brain's reactions to love and affection. For instance, "Well-Rested" is meant to reflect that extra pep in our step and overall positive attitude and mood improvement when we get a good night's sleep with someone we love. And yes, there will be one for lovemaking introduced at some point, although the story itself will be kept lemon-free. Not that I have anything against them, it's just that this story doesn't really need them to progress.**_

**_Before I wrap this up, I want to give a_ *HUGE*** _**shoutout and 'thank you' to all my favorites and followers! I hope you're enjoying reading this story as much as I'm enjoying writing it!**_

_**Until Chapter 7, this is TwistedViper20XX, signing off.**_


	7. Floor 1 (VI): The Glass Ceiling

**===== Floor 1: Lakeside Village =====**

Link stirred awake to find Zelda using his chest as a pillow. He started to wake her up, but thought better of it given their ordeal the day before.

That moment when they both almost lost each other, permanently... that moment was a nightmare in and of itself.

He was surprised that he was able to sleep as well as he had, much less her. Then again, she had been completely wiped out by the time they made it back to the inn in the first place. Perhaps he had as well, whether he knew it or not. He thought back to the night before, trying to remember anything of any significance that had happened after they made it to the inn. But it was all such a blur.

_Did I eat? Yes... but what? And where? Did I talk to anyone?_

_...Was I really _that _out of it that I can't remember anything about last night? Oh well... it can't be helped, I suppose._

Just then, a message came in. He opened it, wondering who could possibly be messaging him:

**Sender: Argo**

**Check this out: rumor has it there will be a meeting two days from now in the town of Tolbana to discuss how to find and defeat the floor boss. You might wanna make your way there as soon as possible.**

Memories were jogged at the name 'Argo.' She was a beta tester just like Link and Zelda, and had acquired a reputation as an information merchant. Link and Zelda had been communicating back and forth with her as they traveled, contributing information for a guidebook she said she was working on.

And Tolbana... and something about the floor boss...

Link sat up with a start, the events of the night prior suddenly clear as day. He had gone out for dinner after Zelda was safe asleep in their room, and while he was out he heard rumors of a scout team locating the floor boss. If that was true, and it apparently was...

His train of thought was derailed by a hand on his shoulder pulling him back down to the bed. "Good morning," Zelda said sleepily. "Did you get some sleep?"

"Yeah... I slept fine, I think."

Zelda shook her head. "No, you didn't. You had a nightmare at some point."

"Really? How do you know?"

"Because your screaming woke me up."

"Oh... I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

"What was I screaming?"

"Nothing. You were just rambling." Somehow, she managed to look him in the eye and pull off that lie. The truth was he had been yelling her name, crying about 'losing' her. She did what she could to calm him down, and when he would finally hold still enough, she held his head against her breasts until he fell asleep again, whispering 'I love her' the whole time. Whether her calming touch had reached him, she didn't know then - although now it seemed clear enough that it hadn't - but at least the bad dreams weren't haunting his waking hours, which she counted as a win. If he didn't remember that nightmare, she certainly wasn't going to be the one to remind him of it. "I just sat with you and made sure you didn't hurt yourself."

"Oh... thank you." He kissed her softly and held her close to his chest. Zelda didn't feel any of his trademark passion with this kiss... it felt more like reassurance and gratitude, like he was happy having her close by, like she brought him peace of mind. She would have been thrilled to spend the entire day like this, but something told her that wouldn't be an option. "How much longer can we stay in bed?"

"Lemme check the map... we need to be in Tolbana two days from now." He pulled up the floor map and spotted Tolbana about a day's march east by northeast taking the fields and hunting their way through. They _could_ take the eastern road and avoid a lot of monsters, but it would probably take an extra half day of travel. "We can stay in bed until the afternoon, if you don't mind traveling through the fields at night."

"I don't mind at all, as long as I have you with me." She smiled and hugged him tight, drawing a sigh and a smile from him. A few extra hours of cuddling would do wonders to put his mind as ease... yet Zelda seemingly had a different idea as she got up and started dressing. "Okay, what's the deal? You _never_ get dressed before me."

Zelda smiled as she walked out the door. "Just stay here, okay?"

"...Okay."

Zelda sold off her excess loot at the marketplace - she would make sure Link did the same before leaving town - then did some serious shopping. She knew Link was still shaken up from the day before, no matter how he tried to hide it. She wanted to relax him, and since he had agreed to stay at the inn a few extra hours, she knew just what she wanted to do...

Zelda came back to the room to find Link finally familiarizing himself with the shower system. Satisfied that her objective would be that much easier, she disrobed and waited for him to emerge, which he did after a few minutes. "How did the shower feel?" she asked with a smile.

"Great. I really do feel a lot better."

"Aww... so does that mean you _don't_ want the surprise I got for you?"

"I didn't say that."

"Good. Now lie down on your stomach."

"If you insist..." He got comfortable on the bed, his hands propping up a pillow beneath his head (which conveniently enough also hid his hand motions). He then felt Zelda's entire weight suddenly applied to his lower back, and a cool liquid applied to his upper back. Her hands spread the oil out evenly before she pressed her entire upper body against his.

"Yesterday was a hard day, for both of us," she whispered in his ear. "But you were there for me in my time of need, like you always have been. Let me return the favor." Link nodded, and Zelda pushed herself upright again and began massaging his back. Like magic, he felt his stress and worries just melt away, and in fact he nodded off shortly. He wasn't awake to see his body start glowing, and his HP meter increasing. A notification flashed in Zelda's HUD:

_New Skill Unlocked!_

She dismissed it for the time being, continuing to administer her loving touch. After about half an hour, she had finished with his back and wanted to continue with his front, but opted to let him sleep. Instead, she opened up her Skills menu and navigated to the section labeled 'Unique Skills:'

* * *

**_Revitalizing Touch_**

_Player 'Link' finds comfort and healing at your hands._

_HP temporarily increased_

_Effectiveness: 10% of base HP plus 1% per caster level every 5 minutes._

_Cast Time: Channeled. Minimum 10 minutes._

_Duration: Lasts until target rests._

_Limitations: Can only be cast on player 'Link.'_

* * *

She scoffed at that last line; who else would she use it on?

Who else would she allow in her bed?

Who else would she touch like that?

Who else would she love like this?

She sighed at the realization; maybe _that_ was why she could never find a boyfriend. She'd met plenty of guys, been on plenty of dates, but none of them ever really amounted to much. Was it because her heart belonged to him this whole time? And would they now die without ever getting the change to truly express how they felt toward each other?

She shook those thoughts out of her head. Her Hero needed her strong and focused, and "what-ifs" didn't do anything to help that situation. Besides, she had resolved to live her best life here and now, making the best of her life here in this world, not dwelling on the past or the outside world. Although now, she found another goal coming to mind: to live to see the end of this world, get back to being Lanay Ruzanaki, find Christopher Farron and tell him that she loved him. That she had loved him for years, and wanted to love him for the rest of their lives.

But that would have to wait... after all, they had a world to save.

* * *

Zelda got dressed and went shopping for supplies, leaving Link a message to meet her when he woke up. She focused on healing items since they would be straying from the relative safety of the roads and trekking through uncharted wilderness. As she made her way through the shops, she came across a peculiar shield. It was a perfect circle, its face made of a metal so shiny and polished she could see her reflection. "Got your eye on that shield, have you?" came the cross voice of the shopkeeper. "Well, don't bother. No way you can afford it-"

"I want it." If there was one thing both Lanay _and_ Zelda both hated, it was being told she "couldn't" do something. She picked it up and the item's tooltip displayed:

**_Mirror Shield_**

**_Price: 100,000 Col_**

**_Buy?_**

**_{{Yes}} / {{No}}_**

Zelda swallowed hard; 100,000 was almost their entire cash reserve. _What the hell, we'll earn it all back with today's hunting_, she said to herself as she tapped the 'Yes' option and hers and Link's hard-earned money vanished into the shopkeeper's... hands? Where did NPCs keep the cash they bought and sold things with, anyway? Eh... another question for another day.

Link eventually woke up, got dressed and found Zelda waiting by a fountain. She was fully equipped, in a purple suit of full plate armor with her greatsword strapped to her back, and... wait a second, was that a shield?

"When did you decide to learn to use a shield?" he asked her as he sat next to her.

"Oh, this?" She removed the shield from her back and handed it to him. "It's for you... it was really expensive, so we don't have a lot of cash on hand anymore. But I thought you might like it."

Link stashed the shield he currently had and equipped the Mirror Shield. It was a significant upgrade in defense and durability, yet it was somehow lighter than any shield he had used so far. It was also a lot bigger, meaning he could cover more of himself with it. "Thank you... that was very thoughtful of you."

"You really like it? I probably spent a lot more on it than I should have..."

"It's okay, we'll earn it back today." He wasn't particularly thrilled about her burning up their cash reserves, but he wasn't about to act like an ungrateful asshole over it. Besides, they were right; they could earn that money back easily enough on their hunt traveling towards Tolbana.

He continued to look over the shield, and noticed that the front side had a relief in the exact same design as the eagle on his tabard. He inspected the back side and found a relief in the shape of three triangles, just like the tattoo on his right hand. As he pondered the strangeness of this coincidence, his vision suddenly went hazy. He saw flashes of images: spider-like creatures with a single eye that could shoot laser beams, and a person using a shield to deflect the laser beams away. Just as quickly as the vision came, it was gone.

"What the hell..." He stared at the shield with a mixture of trepidation and wonder.

"Your eyes just went all weird, like-"

"Like TV snow? The same way yours did when you touched your bow for the first time!" There was no mistaking it; he was supposed to have this shield, just like she was supposed to have that bow, just like he was supposed to have that Sheikah Slate. He gave Zelda a huge hug and a kiss on the forehead. "Have I told you lately that you're an absolute fucking genius?"

"Really?" She blushed at his praise; no, he had in fact not told her she was a genius lately, or ever for that matter. But knowing she had done something to garner such adulation erased all of her insecurities about the money. If that shield had given him a vision, then it was meant to be used by him and no one else, and thus it was worth every single Col.

Link sold off his excess loot before leaving town (which ended up recouping about a third of the cost of the shield, as it were) before they struck out into the eastern fields around 10:00. They had their 'Well-Rested' and 'Revitalizing Touch' effects applied, which made hunting a little bit easier. They kept honing their individual skills as well as their team dynamic, inventing flashy and stylish ways to defeat their enemies. Hundreds of enemies fell to their blades, and by early afternoon they had made good progress to their destination. Eventually they spotted a small hilltop which would make a nice spot to rest and have lunch. They cooked, ate, and took a little while to rest from their travels and enjoy the view from the hill. They sat back-to-back for better security, but with their weapons on the ground to their sides for additional closeness. Zelda pulled her helmet off, and her long, jet-black hair fell across Link's shoulder and chest. Link said nothing, just chuckling slightly as he began to run his fingers though it.

"Stop that," she purred more than a little suggestively. "You're gonna end up putting me to sleep."

"Oh, yeah... and we wouldn't want that now, would we?"

"Nope, 'cuz if I do go to sleep, you're coming with me."

"Right out here, in the middle of the field... how long do you think we'd live?"

"Who cares... if I got to die in your arms, I'd be happy."

"Don't even joke like that."

"Who said I was joking?" Zelda removed her gloves and chestpiece and curled up in Link's lap, taking his hands between her own. "I don't so much worry about dying in this game, so much as I worry about dying _without you_."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because I know that you would fight to your last breath to keep me alive, and you know that I would do the same for you."

Link stared off into the distance. "Yeah, you're right about that... hey, look at that. To the northeast."

Zelda sat up and looked in the direction Link was now pointing. "What? What do you see?"

"That little tower out in the distance... is that a horse's head on top?"

"Yeah, I think you're right... do you think maybe it's a horse stable?"

"If it is, and we can find horses there-"

"We can get to Tolbana before nightfall."

"Come on, let's move!"

The pair reequipped their armor and weapons and headed for the landmark they had pointed out. After about half an hour, they reached their destination and found that it was indeed a horse stable. They inquired with the man at the front counter about possibly obtaining horses of their own.

"I'd be happy to help you out!" he replied cheerfully enough. "Except we've been having a problem lately: a Guardian has strayed too close to our stable and is scaring away all the horses."

"Scaring away all the horses... wait a sec, what's a 'Guardian?'" Zelda asked.

"A weapon created to fight the Calamity, but now gone completely amok," the stablehand shuddered. "Now they'll attack anyone and anything that gets within range of their eye, which can see damn near to forever. Not to mention, they're tough; I've seen entire platoons go after them and not put so much as a dent in their armor."

"Sounds scary... where can we find it?" Link asked.

"Well, it typically stays up north, and doesn't come too close to us unless some fool lets it chase them here. And with as many legs as they have, they can move pretty quick for something as big as they are."

"Many legs, huh?" Link recalled something in his vision from the Mirror Shield.

"Yeah, although I don't know which is worse, that or the lasers it shoots off."

_Lasers?_ "And, umm... if we manage to take this thing down, you'll sell us a couple horses?"

"Well, we don't exactly _sell_ horses. If you can catch a horse of your own, we'll sell you a bridle and saddle for it. We'll also register it, which means you can board it at any stable you come across."

"Thanks... we'll be back as soon as we've dealt with that Guardian." Link grabbed Zelda by the wrist and dragged her out of the stable, finally explaining the vision he saw when he first touched the Mirror Shield. "Spider robots that shoot lasers, that can be deflected by a shield... that sounds just like this Guardian that guy talked about!"

"And you really think we can take one of them on by ourselves?"

"Absolutely... if I can hold its attention and deflect its lasers, you should be able to hack its legs off. It sounds like it can move faster than us, but if it can't move at all, it gives us the advantage."

"Sounds like a plan... there it is!" A couple hundred meters away, a hunk of metal sat on six legs. Oddly enough, it was shaped like the surface portion of the Lakebed Shrine, with the same swirling patterns carved into the sides. It skittered about, clearly on the lookout for something. "It hasn't spotted us yet. Let's use the treeline to get closer before it does." Link agreed and followed her into a nearby patch of woods that covered all but the final thirty meters of their advance. They were also able to see just how intimidating this thing was, and why nobody had been able to destroy it so far. It was about fifteen feet tall, its legs were each about ten feet long with sinister-looking claws at the end of each one, and the top portion looked like it rotated a full 360 degrees. Its tooltip identified it as a 'Guardian Stalker' with 1,500 HP. Link typed a quick message to Zelda to try and avoid detection:

**Great... it can track us even if we try to run. Or even if _it_ tries to run...**

Zelda was the middle of typing a response when the Guardian started to glow with an evil pink light, and a focusing beam shot forth from its eye right to Zelda's chest. "Stay behind me!" Without hesitation, Link got between Zelda and the Guardian and held his shield up in front of both of them. The automaton skittered back and forth, charging its optical beam the entire time. Suddenly it fired a white-hot blast at the two adventurers, which would have certainly been fatal had it not deflected harmlessly off Link's mirrored shield. Unfortunately, it happened to deflect into the forest, setting several trees and a patch of grass ablaze, forcing Link and Zelda out into the open. After a couple seconds, the focusing beam reappeared and the Guardian began charging its laser up again. Link counted ten seconds before another blast fired at him, and he again deflected it away from himself and Zelda, who was still hiding behind him. "Let's try to put some distance between us and that machine," she suggested, retreating about fifty feet away. Unfortunately it was seemingly fixated on her, and ran past Link to chase after her. Link started after her to keep her covered, but instead drew his sword and started hacking away at the nearest leg he could find.

Zelda panicked with nothing between her and this giant death-laser firing spider-bot... which suddenly wasn't moving as sharply as it had before. Around its back side, she could see Link slashing like mad at one of its legs, which must have been what was slowing it down. What he wasn't doing was preventing it from charging its laser for another attack. "Umm, Link... what do I do?!"

"Dodge the beam!"

"WHAT?!"

"It hits - like a truck - but it's slow. Get enough - distance - between you - and it - and you - should - have - an easier - time - of it!" Trying to coach Zelda _and _hack the Guardian's leg off at the same time was not easy by any means.

"I can't jump like you can, not in all this armor!"

"Then you better figure out a way to hide behind that big-ass sword of yours!"

_Wait a sec... of course!_ Somehow it had never dawned on her that her greatsword was not much narrower than a conventional shield. She planted the blade into the ground and braced herself on her rear foot; she now had next to zero mobility, but with any luck her blade would withstand the impact and deflect the laser without too much injury to herself. She just had to keep the flat of the blade in front of the Guardian's focusing beam, which was becoming more and more steady...

_***CRACK!***_

A loud bang echoed from the far side of the Guardian near where Zelda had last seen Link. It rocked to one side away from the sound before crashing back to the ground, its head spinning and its eye laser no longer charging. Link emerged and started hacking at another leg. "Yo, Princess! I could use your help over here!"

Zelda didn't need to be told twice; she picked up her sword and started slashing at the same leg Link was. Thanks to her higher strength parameters, they were able to work together to destroy the rest of the robot's legs with no danger from its eye laser. As they destroyed the last appendage, the remaining husk sputtered, smoked, and shattered into a thousand polygon shards.

They leaned on their weapons as they caught their breath, exhausted but triumphant. Their loot screen showed a slew of various Guardian parts, as well as plenty of Col and enough XP to boost them two full levels. "Wow... I can't believe we took that thing down," Zelda huffed, plopping herself down on the ground.

"I can," Link retorted, sitting down next to her and placing his arm around her. "That's what you and I do, remember? We work as a team. In fact, we work better than probably any other two-player team out there."

"Yeah... we do seem to work pretty well together." She removed her helmet and leaned across his chest, so that they were almost face-to-face. Almost on cue, he tilted her chin up and kissed her full on the mouth. She hungrily kissed him back; his kisses and affections were the better than any loot drop or quest reward she had seen in the game thus far.

They made their way back to the stable, where they reported their success to the stable manager. "Excellent! I knew you could do it!" he beamed. "As a token of our thanks, we have a couple spare horses in the stable. You're welcome to them; they're not the fastest in the world but they're reliable enough to get you around."

Link and Zelda mounted their new steeds after receiving a brief tutorial on how to catch, tame and feed any other horses they might encounter. They rode through the fields towards the setting sun, arriving at Tolbana shortly after nightfall. They found lodging for the night and completed their chores early the following morning and, having nothing really important to do until the raid meeting the following day, spent the day relaxing and enjoying the town. One particular area caught their interest: a "black market" of sorts where, for a quite exaggerated amount of Col, a player could search for certain items on the Internet and have it recreated in the world of Aincrad. Weapons and armor were off-limits, but cosmetic items like clothes, furniture, and even tattoos were available.

They met a few new players who were also in town for the raid meeting: Agil, a giant of a man who wielded an axe to match; Diabel, a self-styled "knight" who was one of the organizers of the raid; Kibaou, who seemed skilled enough with a blade but had a really sour disposition; and a handful of others. They also saw Asuna again, and were glad to see she was still alive and doing well.

Link and Zelda returned to their room as the day wound down, and woke up to what felt like an enthusiastic buzz in the air. They would finally break through the 'glass ceiling' and advance to the second floor.

The only question at this point, was how many people would die trying.


	8. Floor 1 (VII): New Friends, New Enemies

**===== December 2, 2022 - Floor 1: Tolbana Town =====**

_About a month has passed since the launch of "Sword Art Online."_

_In that time, almost 2,000 people have died, and the first floor has yet to be cleared._

_However, a scout team has located the boss' lair and a meeting is being held today to discuss a strategy to defeat him and move on to the second floor._

* * *

Link and Zelda sat in an old amphitheater with about thirty other players, those who had answered the summons to plan the boss raid.

"Ten thousand people on this floor, and this is all that show up?" Zelda whispered to Link.

"From rumors I've heard, it's closer to eight thousand."

Zelda gasped. "You mean... two thousand people have died already?!"

"So it would seem. Thus the... trepidation at a boss raid. At least, I can only guess that's the reason for the low turnout."

"I see…"

A young man in blue armor took the 'stage' and clapped his hands, presumably to get everyone's attention.

"Okay, people... now that everyone's here, let's get this meeting started! So anyway, I want to thank everyone for coming. Good to see you. My name is Diabel, and in this game, the job I rolled is 'knight!'"

A chorus of jeers rose up from the crowd, because there was no actual 'job system' in the game. Diabel restored order quickly, however, and once everyone was silent again he continued.

"Anyway, here's the deal: our party found the boss room at the top of the tower today. First, we need to beat the boss and make it to Floor 2. The next step is, we have to tell everyone waiting in the Town of Beginnings that it is possible to beat this game! The fact is, it's our duty as the most capable players here. Do you agree, or not?"

Another wave of murmurs went through the crowd before everyone broke into a brief round of applause.

"Okay! Glad to hear you're all with me on this," the self-styled knight continued. "Now let's figure out how we're gonna beat the boss. First, we'll team up into parties of six. A typical party doesn't stand a chance against a Floor Boss. We need a raid group, made up of multiple parties."

This announcement raised more than a few eyebrows, Link's and Zelda's included. Having to incorporate four more people into their party was not something they had envisioned when they woke up this morning.

They looked around and saw everyone grouped up. Well, almost everyone... in one of the very top rows, two players seemed to be talking about joining up. Zelda pointed them out. "What about them?"

"You sure that's a good idea?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"I'm a little bit leery about altering our team dynamic the day of a boss fight."

"Oh... you do make a good point. But it's not like 'front door and then *BAM* there's the boss.' We'll have the entire dungeon to get our timing and communication down."

"Hmm… all right. If you really think it's a good idea, then I trust your judgment."

"Okay, be right back." Zelda climbed up to where the two players were talking, while Link turned his focus back to the stage. After a few moments, two new HP gauges popped up on his HUD: Asuna and Kirito.

"All right, looks like everyone's teamed up! Now then-"

"HOLD UP A SECOND!"

Link's attention was drawn to the top of the amphitheater, where a short, spiky-haired man was bounding down toward the stage. Once his feet were under him, he 'introduced' himself to the rest of the players present.

"My name's Kibaou, got that?"

The asshole from the day before... well, maybe Link would piece together why he was in such a bad mood.

"Before we take on the boss, I wanna get something off my chest. We all know about the 2,000 people who've died so far, yeah? Well, some of you need to apologize to them right now!" he yelled, pointing into the crowd (although seemingly at no one in particular).

"Kibaou," Diabel interrupted, "I think I know who you're referring to. You mean the ones who were ex-beta testers, don't you?"

"Of course I mean them! The day this stupid-ass game started, the beta guys just up and vanished, right? They ditched all us beginners! They snagged all the good hunting spots, and they grabbed all the easy quests too. They were the only ones getting stronger in here. This whole time they've ignored us like we're nothing!"

_What the fuck is he on about?_ Link thought, barely keeping his mouth shut. _Mobs respawn and quests aren't one-time deals..._

Kibaou continued his little temper-tantrum. "Hell, I bet there are some of them here! Come on out, beta testers! We should make them apologize to us, and we should make them give up the money and the items they've got! We can't expect the party to trust them when they won't trust us, and why should we?"

Link was _beyond_ pissed now. Here was some shitstain putting the deaths of 2,000 people squarely on the shoulders of him and others like him, which was insulting as well as a downright lie. How many people had he and Zelda directly saved when they came across people struggling in the fields? How much information had they contributed to the guidebook the beta community had published?

He moved to stand up, but a hand around his belt quickly negated that idea. Zelda had returned to her spot next to him, along with their two new party members. "Sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up," she hissed in his ear, with such a tone that Link had no choice but to obey her.

"Can I say something?" A deep voice echoed from a few rows below them. It was the axeman they had met the night before. He made his way down to the stage as well, clearly unnerving Kibaou with his massive size.

"Hey, my name's Agil. Kibaou, right? I wanna make sure I'm on the same page. You say the ex-beta testers should be blamed for the rookies' deaths because they didn't help 'em, and you want 'em to apologize and give up their winnings. I leave anything out?"

"No, you didn't..."

"The item store hands these out for free." He pulled out a pocket-sized leather-bound book. "It's a guidebook. You got one, didn't you?"

"Sure, I got one... so what about it?"

"You know who was handing these out? The ex-beta testers."

_And writing, and compiling data..._

Agil turned to the rest of the players present. "Listen up. Everyone had equal access to this information. Even so, lots of players still died. Now, I didn't come to point fingers at anyone. I'm here 'cuz I wanna learn from those players' deaths. I'm here 'cuz I wanna find out how we're gonna beat the boss!" Agil gave one final glance at Kibaou, who took his seat rather than pressing the issue.

Link made two mental notes. Sometime, somewhere down the road, he would square up with Kibaou, and express his gratitude to Agil.

"Okay, can we get back to the meeting now?" Agil had also taken his seat, allowing Diabel to continue.

"For info on the boss, it's all in here: the latest issue of the guidebook you just heard about. According to the book, the boss' name is Illfang, the Kobold Lord. Also, he'll be surrounded by his minions, the Ruin Kobold Sentinels. Illfang carries an axe and a buckler. He has four health bars, and when the last one turns red, he switches to a curved sword-type weapon called a Talwar. He can change his patterns of attack too."

As ex-beta testers, this all fit with what Link and Zelda remembered about the first floor boss, so it made sense that it would be in the guidebook.

"That's it for the briefing. As for the distribution of loot, money will be divided equally among everyone. The party that defeats the boss gets the XP, and whoever gets an item gets to keep it. Any objections?"

None came up.

"Good. We leave tomorrow at 10 in the morning. Meeting adjourned, people!"

With that, Asuna took off almost immediately, and Kirito followed soon after. This frustrated Link to absolutely no end.

"Where do they think they're going? We have a full 24 hours we could be using to train and get used to each other."

"I wish I knew."

"Are you sure it was a good idea to bring them along?"

"Of course not. I was no more sure when I first had the idea than I am now." Zelda kept calm, but inside she was fuming. It was bad enough Link was beginning to show doubts in her decision making, but even worse because it was due to the actions of people she had no control over. "I guess we should just hope they don't get us or anyone else killed tomorrow."

"Fair enough... meanwhile, we have the whole day in front of us. What do you say we go hunting in the eastern woods?"

"I don't know... I was hoping that with some free time, we could do something a little more... fun?"

Link had to concede opportunities for leisure time had been few and far between here in Aincrad, with getting stronger and clearing the game being priorities numbers one and two over the past month. "You're right... we have a major boss raid coming up tomorrow, so some downtime today might not be the worst thing in the world. What do you want to do?"

"Hmm... I know! I wanna go horseback riding!"

Link smiled. Horseback riding was the last thing he expected her to want to do, neither of them having ever ridden a horse in the real world. But it sounded relaxing enough, and a day of relaxation before a boss battle sounded like just what the doctor ordered. They changed into lighter clothes, found their steeds at the front gate of the town, and took off along the northern road.

Link allowed his horse to follow the road at a decent gallop, while Zelda sprinted ahead of, behind, and around him. She was having fun with the wind in her face, her hair streaming behind her, screaming and laughing at the top of her lungs. Link smiled and kept close to her... until he saw a creature on a nearby hilltop. He couldn't make out much about it, other than the massive bow it was drawing from its back. Zelda was riding perilously close to it...

"ZELDA! RUN!"

She looked up and over her shoulder, just in time to duck a flaming arrow. She then saw the... monster that fired it, and spurred her horse into action. They weren't fighting this thing; it looked strong enough to kill them before they even equipped their armor. Fortunately, it wasn't horribly fast or resilient; after a few more misfired arrows, it gave up the pursuit and went back to its hill. She and Link met back up on the road. "You all right?"

"I'm fine. Just... what the hell was that thing? I don't remember seeing anything like it in the beta."

"Me either." Link turned to get a better look at the creature. From a distance, it looked like a centaur, only its top half was... not quite human. "I think we should put as much distance between us and what the hell are you doing?"

Zelda was gearing up her full plate and sword. "Going to kill that thing."

"Dare I ask why?"

"Because we can?"

"How many different ways can I explain to you exactly how bad an idea that is?! We don't know what it is, how strong it is, nothing."

"Well, I wouldn't exactly say we know nothing..."

"Okay, so here's what we do know: it's half-horse, half-demon as far as I can tell. It's twelve feet tall, shoots flaming arrows, and if I had to guess, carries melee weapons bigger than you or me."

Zelda huffed. "Fine, you win for now." She pulled up her map and dropped a note pin near the hilltop. "But one of these days, we're coming back to kill that thing."

"Why is that even necessary?"

"Like I said before: because we can."

"...Of course."

The two rode back to the safety of Tolbana, not wanting to push their luck any farther (despite Zelda's insistence to the contrary, the absolute last thing they could afford to do here and now was burn up valuable supplies the day before a boss raid). Evening fell, and the rest of the raiders were now socializing in the town square. Link and Zelda retired to their room at one of the local inns, their earlier brush with what would Link insisted would have been certain death proving to be more exhausting than they first thought. They snuggled in bed, staring out the window and listening to the din of the town below. "Chris?"

"What's on your mind?" She hadn't called him by his given name since their first night in Aincrad.

"Will you... make love to me tonight, please?"

_Okay, _that _was completely random and unexpected._ He kissed her for a brief moment, then backed off. "I can't."

"What? Why? What do you mean, you can't?"

"Lanay, I know you better than you give me credit for. The only reason you're asking me that here and now is because you're afraid of dying tomorrow."

"Yes, I admit: I'm afraid of dying tomorrow. I'm afraid of dying every single day we're in this death trap. I just... I just..." Try as she might, she couldn't bring her mouth to say the words her heart was screaming.

He pulled her close to his chest, which oddly caused her to break out into tears. "Hey, remember that promise we made to each other?"

She stopped sobbing long enough to choke out, "Get as strong as we can, and stay alive."

"_And stay alive_. That means, we can't die yet. We promised each other we'd stay alive and get back to the real world. So we're not going to die tomorrow. Or the next day, or anytime soon. There's no need to pressure yourself just because you're afraid."

"You think I asked you to make love to me just because I'm afraid?"

"I don't think it, I know it. If not, then why now? Why tonight, of all nights?"

"I just... because... oh, forget it!" She wrapped the covers around herself in a huff and laid down with her back to him.

Link said nothing, merely letting out a sigh and laying down facing the window, with his back to hers. He tried to sleep, but he felt her tossing and turning which meant _he_ couldn't fall asleep either. So he just kept as still as he could and tried to focus on sleeping.

Zelda, meanwhile, was having fits on her side of the bed and it was causing her to toss and turn like nobody's business. She couldn't sleep without her body close to his, but she was just so infuriated at him turning her down that she really wanted nothing to do with him. But she still needed to sleep... so eventually she put her pride to the side and inched closer to him. She put her head against his back and her arm over his heart, and... it felt like a switch turning on. Hearing and feeling his heartbeat and breathing rhythms literally course through her body seemed to have some sort of magical effect on her, and she realized how selfish, petty and foolish she had been. She wrapped herself around his body as much as she could without disturbing him, and drifted off to sleep within moments.

Link, meanwhile, felt the tension draining out of his companion as she fell asleep. He realized he _probably_ could have at least tried to turn her down in a bit more gentle manner, but in all honesty what good would it have done? Nobody likes being rejected, especially by the person they love, especially someone whose feelings ran as deep and as strong as hers.

_Some brave hero I turned out to be... I can slay monsters by the thousands, but I'm too afraid to even tell my best friend I'm in love with her._

_But... why? Why am I so hesitant? Everything is completely different when she's around. Colors seem brighter, sounds seem more vibrant... I'm just so much happier when she's near me. So why the hell am I so scared to say it?!_

His thought process about the night's events were interrupted by a flash in his HUD: "New Skill Unlocked!" He opened his Unique Skills menu, and another entry had been uncovered:

* * *

**_Soothing Pulse_**

_Feeling your body's biorhythms helps player 'Zelda' fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer._

_Reduces the cast time of "Well Rested."_

_Effectiveness: 1% per caster level._

_Instant Cast_

_Limitations: Can only be cast on player 'Zelda.'_

* * *

Link chuckled to himself. "Figures..." he whispered as he closed his menu, clasped Zelda's hand to his chest with his own, and finally went to sleep.

* * *

_**A/N: TwistedViper20XX here!**_

_**I was going to put the entirety of Episode 2: "Beater," to include the boss fight, in the same chapter, but two things:**_

_**1) I wanted to get this particular part of the story published now, before my last few written exams in my course next week; and**_

_**2) I'm taking a *LOT* of liberties with the boss fight, and I'm trying to decide how best to do that while shifting the main focus of the story away from Kirito and SAO canon to Link and Zelda and the Hyrulean mythos.**_

_**I will say that both characters each gain another Unique Skill during the boss fight, one of which is kind of sappy but I really don't care. /shrug... I'm having far too much fun with this project. Lol**_

_**Please keep the favorites and reviews coming... it does my soul good knowing this project is being so well received. :) Until next time, this is TwistedViper20XX, signing off.**_


	9. Floor 1 (VIII): Fire-Forged Lovers

**===== Floor 1, Eastern Forest =====**

Link, Kirito, Zelda and Asuna trekked through the forest toward the tower dungeon, along with the rest of the raid group. Their squad had been assigned as 'backup,' charged with the task of defeating the boss' minions, the Ruin Kobold Sentinels. They had agreed on a rotation of "boy-girl-boy-girl" for two reasons. One, it kept things simple; two, the most familiar pairing (Link/Zelda) started off every attack rotation, which was best for everybody. Until Asuna asked one question out of the blue:

"What's a switch?"

"Okay, level with me here," asked Kirito. "Is this your first time being in a party?"

Asuna said nothing, merely nodding her head in the affirmative before walking ahead of the group. Zelda grimaced in frustration; not only was she tasked with keeping two complete strangers safe and alive along with herself and Link, neither of them had any prior experience playing in a team dynamic (Kirito described himself as a solo player as well, but he was a beta tester so he was at least somewhat familiar with working as a party). She found herself strongly regretting her idea to team up with them, not to mention what Link must have been thinking. She decided not to ask, however.

The group quickly reached the boss room at the top of the tower (the scouting party had apparently cleared the majority of the dungeon in the days prior), and Diabel addressed the raiders one last time before entering the boss' lair.

"I've got just one thing to say to you: let's win!"

Link and Zelda shared one final kiss before entering the darkened chambers of the floor's final boss, Illfang the Kobold Lord. The door slammed shut behind them and the room lit up, revealing Illfang and his minions at the far end of the room. Link took a quick count of the minions; there were only three of them, so Link guessed that they would have pretty formidable strength, though nowhere near the level of the boss. He moved his squad to the far left flank of the battle group, where they awaited the next move.

Suddenly Illfang and his minions leapt to their feet and charged across the room. Diabel pointed his sword and shouted, "Commence attack!" At once, the entire raid group charged forward and engaged with their assignments. Link met the Sentinel with a Shield Charge, parrying its weapon out of the way for a follow-up combo. There was no need to call for a 'switch;' Zelda was behind him in the rotation and she knew exactly at what point in the specific combo he was using (strike 4 out of 6) she should prepare to jump in. Sure enough, he completed his combo, the enemy moved to counterattack, and Link rolled out of the way to the minion's weapon hand, leaving it swinging at nothing but air and wide open for Zelda's devastating follow-up. Her final strike was a stab to its center, which caused it to explode in a shower of blue shards. However, no sooner had it vanished than another Sentinel spawned to take its place. As it charged, Kirito rushed forward to engage it with a sword skill. He parried the minion's attack and called for a switch, and Asuna charged in. "I'm on it!" She then surprised both Link and Zelda by striking the enemy so fast that they could barely see the tip of her sword.

They kept this up until the minions stopped spawning and the boss let out a deafening roar. Zelda pointed out that its last health bar was in the red just as it tossed its weapons aside.

"Looks like the guidebook was right," Kibaou pointed out.

"Let's flank it!" Link called out to his squad. They moved to surround the boss, but then they heard Diabel yell for everyone to get clear. Link stopped in confusion, and happened to get a look at the weapon Illfang was preparing to draw: a long, two-handed sword he recognized as _not_ a Talwar.

_Shit, this isn't like the beta!_ "It's no good! Get out of there!"

But by then, it was too late.

Diabel was out in the middle of the room, completely isolated from the rest of the raid. The boss jumped from pillar to post, preparing to rain down what surely would have been a fatal strike. Link did the only thing he could do: grabbed the Sheikah Slate from his hip, activated Stasis, and managed to lock the boss in the air a split second before its blade cleaved Diabel in two. Fortunately, Diabel was smart enough to use the five seconds Stasis lasted to get clear and avoid certain disaster. Link, however, was not so lucky as the boss landed and sprinted straight for him. He rushed to get his shield up in time, but Illfang countered with an upward strike that launched him clear across the room, red 'data' streaking across his torso where the blow had landed.

Zelda sprinted to Link's side with a health potion, but he was too weak and addled to drink it. She watched helplessly as his HP drained.

"Link? Get up... don't you dare die on me!" She was starting to cry as his HP gauge dipped from green to yellow.

"You promised me you wouldn't die in here, now get up, dammit!"

The rest of the raid group was now screaming at Zelda, but she didn't hear a single thing; all she could focus on was Link, whose HP was now dangerously in the red.

"I can't... I can't go on without you," she whispered. "Please, get up... I'll do anything, just... please..." Her tears were now falling on his cheek.

"I have no life without you, Link... please..."

Finally, through all the pain and tears, she managed to scream out three simple words:

**"I LOVE YOU!"**

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a giant flame hurtling towards them.

_No... it's too late..._

She threw her body over his to shield him as best she could.

_At least... we'll die together..._

* * *

**_===== Adrenaline Rush! =====_**

* * *

Illfang's fire breath attack consumed both Link and Zelda, to the shock of the rest of the party... and then, a brilliant light came from where the two players had been...

Zelda blinked and looked up and saw Link standing over her, with the Mirror Shield on his arm and a fire in his eyes. The shield was burning with flames and pulsating rapidly. He pulled his shield arm back slightly, and a weapon skill charged.

"Shield... Slash!"

He flung his arm forward, and a massive fireball in the shape of a shield burst forth. The rest of the raid group looked on in amazement as it struck Illfang in the chest, reducing its health to a bare sliver. Link reached down to pull Zelda to her feet. "But... how-"

Whatever else she was going to say was silenced by Link's lips on top of hers.

She hungrily kissed him back... but wait, this was a new kiss, a new sensation... she felt her very body getting stronger and more powerful. They finally broke apart and looked each other in the eye, but only for a moment as they turned their eyes to the boss. Nothing else needed to be said, at least right now.

Zelda looped around towards Link's left and took up her Base Hold stance. Link placed his back to hers, sword and shield at the ready. They waited for the flames to clear and for Illfang to regain his feet. When he did, he let out another massive roar.

That was their cue.

Wordlessly they took off in a dead sprint, somehow in complete step with one another. Illfang recklessly swung his weapon and Link knocked the strike aside effortlessly, leaving him wide open for one of Zelda's combo attacks. Illfang prepared to swing again and Zelda dug in to deflect, only he changed his strike at the last second, eluding her defense and sending her flying. Link got his shield up over her to guard against the next blow, but as it came down a green flash appeared over his head. It was Agil, who had rallied the rest of the raid back to the fight.

"We can hold this bastard off until your health's back up!"

"Thanks," Zelda replied with a small smile.

_That's two I owe him_, Link thought to himself.

Zelda quickly drank the health potion Link offered her and got back to her feet. The boss had knocked most of the raid group to the ground and was flying around using the columns again.

"You're going down!" she yelled, intercepting the boss in the air with another violent attack. Link joined her on the ground and they charged the boss once again.

"Help me take this sucker down! One last attack!"

"I got your back!"

Link charged in first as usual, waiting for the boss to strike. When it did, he dodged instead of parrying, unleashing a flurry of sword slashes and shield bashes while watching for a counterattack. When it came, Link parried and called for Zelda to switch in, which she did with a straight stab to the gut.

"Now we end this!" Link hopped on the flat of Zelda's blade while she used her Skull Cleaver skill, a mighty vertical slash which ripped a red data wound from stomach to throat in the boss _and_ launched Link in the air. He came down like a missile, using his shield as cover while cocking his sword back.

Illfang looked up towards Link and let out one more earthshaking roar, which Link took as an opportunity to drive his blade straight down the monster's throat. The last of its HP finally drained, and Illfang the Kobold Lord exploded into a shower of polygonal shards. A few tense moments passed, then...

_**========== Congratulations! ==========**_

A giant banner appeared in the air, making official what the raid group already knew.

They had won.

Yells and screams of joy went up at once. Players got massive sums of loot, Col and XP. Link and Zelda hit Lv. 10 and got 2,500 Col apiece, and each got a second screen:

**_You got the last attack!_**

Link got a Champion's Tunic, and Zelda received a Royal Armor. Searching the spot where the boss died revealed another special item, Illfang's Orb. Link picked up the item, and a red orb appeared in his hands. It was red, about the size of a softball...

...and had a pair of crossed swords on it.

The words of the Lakeside Temple rang in his head like a gong:

_Return here once the way forward has been cleared._

Link stashed the orb and looked for Zelda, who was coming up along with Kirito, Asuna, Diabel and Agil. "That was some fine swordsmanship," Agil said. "Today's victory is all thanks to you."

The rest of the raid group began applauding and cheering, and Zelda threw her arms around him. "I thought I lost you there."

Link thought back to the fight: taking a near-fatal hit from Illfang, then throwing himself in from of Zelda to shield him from the boss' breath attack. He didn't remember much in between...

...except for three words, shouted in desparation almost as in prayer to the gods of this world...

Link dropped his arms for a moment before finally wrapping them around Zelda. "I love you," he whispered loud enough to be heard by her and no one else.

Zelda said nothing, merely drinking in his presence and the fact that he was indeed still alive. Another "New Skill Unlocked" notification hovered at the top of her HUD, but she didn't care right now.

Their embrace was interrupted by Kibaou - of course he would choose _this moment_ to be a complete and total asshole - shoving the two apart. "How'd you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Freeze the boss mid-air like that! We all saw it!" Kibaou spotted the Sheikah Slate on Link's hip and grabbed for it. "It was that thing-"

***SLASH!***

Kibaou fell to the ground, horrified and suddenly missing a hand. Zelda stood between him and Link, her sword so close to his face, in the real world he would have smelled his blood on the blade. "Don't you _ever_ come at my partner like that again, or I'll cut off more than just a hand," she seethed.

"Hey... Link, right?"

It was Diabel.

"I don't know how to thank you enough... I owe you my life."

Link thought back to the battle; everything had been such a chaotic whirlwind that he was having trouble piecing together specific events... but piece them together he did. He had used the Stasis rune in the Sheikah Slate to freeze Illfang in midair, giving Diabel precious time to escape a demise of his own making. He said nothing, merely pulling his guidebook from his pocket, thumbing through it... and solidly thumping Diabel on the forehead with it.

"Listen, everyone... this book is an awesome resource. I know because I helped contribute a lot of information to it."

"Contributed... but then, that means-"

"Yes, it means I'm an ex-beta tester, just like you are."

"And so am I," Zelda said, still staring down Kibaou.

The rest of the raid gasped in shock, but Link continued unphased. "Most of the info in here comes from what we learned during the beta, but it seems like nobody paid attention to this little disclaimer inside the front cover: _'**Information is subject to change when the game goes live.' **_That's why the boss pulled a weapon _that looks exactly nothing like a talwar_, and used an entirely different attack pattern than we were expecting." He looked over the rest of the players, in case anyone had anything else to say. When they remained silent, he gave Zelda a slow blink. In a sign of understanding, she sheathed her blade and followed him out of the dungeon. The way forward was open, but Link and Zelda had some business to take care of before leaving the first floor. First was scouting (but not fighting!) the giant monster they had spotted while out horseback riding. It turned out to be something called a Lynel, a creature almost identical to a centaur with the exception of its lion-like head and face. It had 1,500 HP, which was the same as the Guardian they had fought at the stable, so defeating it wouldn't be a matter of strength so much a matter of tactics... well, tactics and possibly gear.

"Hey, Zelda... you know all those armor pieces we've been finding?"

"Yeah?"

"Take a look at this." He opened his inventory, and the five Champion's set pieces he had found were not in his gear repository, but listed as Key Items, meaning he couldn't equip them. Zelda found her Royal gear in the same place in her own inventory. She huffed in frustration; yet another seemingly pointless thing they'd come across in this game.

Besides, before they could address Zelda's obsession with defeating the Lynel, however, there was another pressing matter to attend to: the Lakebed Shrine was calling.

They used the Sheikah Shrine to warp to the temple, not wanting to burn unnecessary daylight by riding all the way there, and descended once more into its depths. The blue light from the room and the torches now felt welcoming rather than ominous, as it did on their first trip here. They approached the altar and placed the orb that had dropped from Illfang's digital corpse into its corresponding recess. The torches burned brighter and another door opened, directly opposite from the platform from the surface. Both players cautiously drew their weapons as they approached, only putting them away once they were certain they were the only ones in the room. In fact, the only things in the room were two identical-looking treasure chests.

"Zelda, watch my back while I open these?"

"Why?"

"In case this room is trapped or something."

"...All right, if you insist." She drew her sword, ready to strike at whatever might jump out of the shadows, the walls... or Link's imagination. She heard him tussling with one of the chests for a few moments, then swear under his breath. "What's wrong?" she inquired.

"It won't open."

"Won't open? What do you mean?"

"I mean, it won't open."

"Really?" She put her sword down and joined him in examining the left chest. Almost immediately, the problem became apparent. "Look at the chest."

"I'm looking at the chest... what am I supposed to see?"

Zelda removed her gloves and placed her right hand on top of the chest. Link stared blankly for a moment, but then the realization dawned on him as well.

On the chest were three triangles, arranged in a pyramid, with the lower left one shaded just a little bit darker...

_...just like on Zelda's hand!_

Link moved to the chest on the right, and exactly on cue the pattern was reversed: the lower right triangle was darker just like it was on his own hand. "No wonder I couldn't open that chest; it's for you to open, not me." He tried opening the right chest, but it still wouldn't open. "Okay... what now?"

Zelda knelt down in front of her chest. "Perhaps if we tried opening them at the same time?"

"I mean... I don't have any better ideas. On three?"

She nodded in the affirmative.

"One... two... three." They pulled the catches simultaneously, and just as she had predicted, both chests opened without so much as a squeak. From hers, Zelda pulled an ornate silver... wand? Baton? She couldn't really tell what it was or what it was for...

From his, Link pulled a shining blue musical instrument. It looked like a woodwind; it had several of what he could only assume were finger holes, and an extension that looked like a mouthpiece...

As they touched their respective items, they both went into a trance and were shown a vision. Zelda saw a figure holding the silver wand and waving it about, but in a very rhythmic fashion. As the figure waved the baton, the very winds seemed to shift and change.

Meanwhile, Link saw a figure holding the device to its mouth. Three stones flew out of its pockets, and a door opened revealing a pedestal with a sword embedded in it.

After the visions passed, both players came around to find the other collapsed on the floor. They helped each other to their feet, but then jumped back in surprise.

"Who are you?!" each asked the other.

"What do you mean, 'who am I?' I'm Link, Chris, whatever you wanna call me, but I'm the same as I've always been... who are you?"

"'Who am I?' Don't you recognize me? It's me, Zelda-slash-Lanay."

Link cautiously approached Zelda, now that his eyes were starting to adapt to the low light again. "Your face is the same, but your clothes... what the hell-"

"Is going on here... look, over there!" Zelda noticed the walls were covered with mirrors, so she dragged Link in front of them, and both of their jaws hit the floor in shock.

Link's appearance hadn't changed that much; his brown leather boots and black leggings were still there, except he could feel a layer of chain mail underneath them. His brown leather gauntlets had a layer of blue fabric beneath them now, and they had been reinforced with a light layer of steel plate. His chestpiece had undergone the most drastic transformation, however. Instead of a plain chain shirt with an eagle tabard over it, he now wore a short-sleeved green shirt with chainmail underneath it. It also had a steel shoulder plate on the left arm, and a blue scarf draped around his neck. On his head was a simple green cap that matched the tunic.

Zelda's full suit of plate armor was gone, replaced by a pale purple gown fit only for a princess. It had a layer of shining silver scale armor underneath the fabric, and the torso was articulated plate, so it was clearly meant to be worth something in combat. Her helmet was replaced by a crown, and her hair had been woven into a single braid with a talisman at the end.

They both stood speechless for a moment, trying to come to grips with their new appearances. Link checked his equipment, and saw that the formerly labeled Key Items that made up the Champion's Regalia were now equipped, meaning he could remove and replace them at will. He also noticed his stats were through the roof compared to what they had been before, although his level was the same. He checked each piece, and saw that they granted stat bonuses as a percentage of base stats multiplied by player level, which meant that with very rare world-class drop exceptions, his current clothing would _always_ outperform anything he would come across in the game. He shared his revelations with Zelda, who learned the same thing about her equipment.

Seeing nothing else of import in this particular room, they turned to leave. A familiar voice stopped them in their tracks, however:

_Children of the sword, you have proven to possess the resolve of true heroes._

_Heroes worthy of the blessings of Hylia herself._

_Return here once you are further hardened by battle._

Another altar arose from the floor between the two empty chests, this one containing sixteen spherical recesses surrounding a larger recess with crossed swords.

"Well, our next objective seems clear enough... for now, let's find a place to stay and get some rest."

"Couldn't agree more. I think we can both agree now that coming close to death tends to be both physically and mentally exhausting."

The two teleported back to the town of Tolbana where, due to the large influx of travelers making the trip through the dungeon to Floor 2, more players were flooding the town than they had ever seen. Fortunately, most were just passing through so they had an easy time finding space at an inn. Link wanted to take a nap, but Zelda had a shopping/hunting list for him to accomplish first. Apparently she planned on cooking something special for dinner and needed ingredients, so off Link went. Neither errand proved to be a horribly difficult challenge, just time-consuming due to the rarity and quantity of the drops she needed. As a result, he didn't get back to the inn until sunset. When he did, he found the surprise of his life waiting for him.

The room was softly lit with candles... dozens of candles, arranged all around the room. The smell of incense hung heavy in the air, and as he closed the door behind him he heard soft music start playing. He looked in the direction of the music and saw the absolute most stunning sight he had ever seen, in this world or any other. Apparently Zelda had used the time Link was out hunting to do some black market shopping of her own, for there she stood in sheer white lingerie.

"Zelda... wha..." For the first time in living memory, Christopher Lance 'Link' Farron was absolutely speechless.

Zelda shyly stepped across the room. "I wanted our first time to be special... a night we'd never forget."

Try as he might, Link still could not speak, so he did the next best thing: he pulled her close to him and kissed her.

Zelda's entire existence was lit ablaze, mind, body and soul; this was an entirely different type of kiss than the ones he had given her before. There was no hidden message there; no unspoken promises, no clumsy words being silenced, no fears being put to rest, and no unspoken words being conveyed.

_This_ was the kiss of pure love.

Link and Zelda made love all throughout the night, stopping long enough to eat the absolutely fabolous dinner Zelda cooked using the ingredients Link had hunted for her. At a certain point while eating dessert, Link noticed Zelda giving him a really strange look.

"What's that look for?"

"I just want to know..." She came around the table and sat in his lap, her hair undone and draped over her shoulders, keeping her modestly covered. "Why it took you almost dying to tell me that you loved me?"

Link chuckled softly. "Well... you said it first."

Zelda chuckled and kissed Link, draping her hair over both of them since they were sitting in front of a wide open window. "Do you think they can see us?"

"Since the window is wide open, my guess would be yes," Link said with a laugh.

Zelda just shrugged. "Eh, I don't care... the only thing - the only person - I care about right here and now, in this very moment, is you. I love you, Chris. I always have, and I always will."

"I love you just as much, Lanay. Maybe even a little bit more."

They extinguished the candles, closed the window and went to bed. Despite Link's initial insistence that they go right to sleep, they did make love a couple more times before finally going to bed.

They did have a world to save after all, only now they had an even more powerful weapon and driving force on their side: love.

* * *

_**A/N: TwistedViper20XX here!**_

_**Shockingly, I managed to get this written before my exams finish up. I feel like I set some sort of speed record for this chapter, although a lot of it was just transcribing Episode 2 and modifying it to fit the story, so the boss fight itself (about half the chapter) was pretty simple.**_

_**Finally we have Link and Zelda's avatars looking like the classic Link and Zelda we all have grown to know and love! Both outfits are straight out of "Hyrule Warriors," with the exception of Zelda's gown being reinforced with armor as she's the heavy tank of the pair.**_

_**For anybody wondering why Zelda's the stronger of the two, there are actually two reasons. One, the only times in the LoZ universe she's carried a sword, it's been a rapier. SAO already has one female rapier user, and I'm not trying to cramp her style. Two, it's just a refreshing change of pace to paint Zelda in the role of a wrecking machine rather than the classic damsel in distress.**_

_**Her fighting style is taken directly from Siegfried, from the 'Soul Calibur' franchise... for now, anyway. She gets an *entirely* brand-new style down the road. :)**_

_**That's about all for now... I can almost promise this is going to be the last chapter until about mid-November. I graduate my course next Friday, then spend a week in the field before flying home for a week, so that's about 25 days I either won't be able or interested in writing. Plus since the next few chapters are going to be extremely devoted to LoZ, I should probably do some research on the source material (read: play dozens of hours of various 'Zelda' games... Lol).**_

_**Until next time, this is TwistedViper20XX, signing off!**_


	10. Floor 1 (IX): Breakthrough

**===== Floor 1: Tolbana =====**

Link and Zelda woke up early and feeling more refreshed and energized than they ever had before. Zelda's "Well Rested" effect was in place, albeit at a significantly higher level than before. Both players were Lv. 10, which meant that her stats should have been boosted by 20% if they slept for a full eight hours uninterrupted, and they hadn't slept that long yet her stats were boosted by an astounding 35 percent. When she voiced her concerns to Link, he opened up his Unique Skills menu and had her do the same.

"All right, let's see what we've got here... Well Rested, Adrenaline Rush, Soothing Pulse..."

"Soothing Pulse? What's that?"

"Oh, yeah... that one popped up the morning of the boss fight. It must have unlocked the night before."

"I see..." She peered over his shoulder and read the description of the Soothing Pulse skill. "So feeling your heartbeat helps me fall sleep faster, is that what it's saying?"

"Pretty much... and it's true. You couldn't sleep until you put your head against my back and your hand on my chest. I could feel you tossing and turning behind me."

Zelda blushed. "I thought you were asleep that whole time! Why didn't you say anything?"

"It wouldn't have made any difference," Link said with a small chuckle. "Let's see what else we've got here... oh, there are two new ones." He opened each new tooltip in turn:

* * *

**_Lovemaking_**

_The ultimate physical expression of love and passion._

_Increases effectiveness of all other Unique Skills._

_Effectiveness: 25% of base value every 30 minutes._

_Cast time: Channeled. Minimum 30 minutes._

_Limitations: Can only be cast on player 'Zelda.'_

* * *

**_Din's Kiss_**

_The Goddess of Power's flaming passion and strength burn brightest on the battlefield._

_STR, Max HP increased_

_Effectiveness: 30% plus 1% every five caster levels. Increases to 50%/2% if caster is boosted by 'Adrenaline Rush.'_

_Duration: 15 seconds per caster level._

_Limitations: Can only be cast in combat. Can only be cast on player 'Zelda.'_

* * *

Both players were now blushing nervously at the realization that their romance was what was actually making them stronger. "Even more things to add to the list of weird crap about this world..." Zelda fumed.

"Can't argue with that... anyway, open yours up now."

"Yeah, sure... I have Revitalizing Touch, Lovemaking, and... Nayru's Spirit?"

* * *

**_Nayru's Spirit_**

_Echoes of the heart heal even the most grievous of wounds._

_Completely restores and overflows target's HP._

_Effectiveness: 2% extra HP gained per caster level._

_Cast Time: 15 seconds minus 1 second per 10 caster levels._

_Duration: 5 minutes._

_Limitations: Can only be cast in combat.  
Can only be cast on player 'Link.'  
HP resets to base maximum after duration.  
Can only be triggered by a severe shift in the caster's mental state.  
Triggers 'Adrenaline Rush.'_

* * *

"So in other words, if I see you get hurt and freak out, it heals you? What kind of garbage is that?"

"The same 'garbage' that makes you super-Saiyan strong just by sleeping next to me, I suppose."

"So I see... guess there's no point in worrying about it." She peeked out the curtains and saw the sun just peeking over the horizon. "Anyway, since we have some time before we have to get moving..."

"Again?"

"Yes, again... am I asking too much of my Hero?"

"No, I'm just surprised you want it so much..."

"Well, don't be. I love you, I want you, and I crave you..."

They made love for a considerable amount of time before finally getting dressed and leaving the inn.

As they stepped out into the town plaza, they attracted a considerable amount of attention as the heroes who had finally defeated the Floor Boss (ignoring the fact that it had taken a team effort of some thirty-odd other players, but such is how the rumor mill turned). Some were asking for autographs, some issued challenges for duels, some even came with proclamations of love which ranged from charming to amusing to downright creepy, but one thing seemed clear. Everyone in Aincrad knew who Link and Zelda were.

"I'm not entirely sure how I feel about all this," Link mused as they passed through the city gates.

"Well, a little fame and notoriety can't be _too_ bad of a thing, right?"

"I suppose not, although I'm sure there are some radars I'd rather not end up on."

"What do you mean by that?"

Seeing as they were surrounded by people, Link switched to French so he and Zelda could continue speaking freely. **{I've heard rumors that people are recruiting for a murder guild.}**

**{'Murder guild?' What do you mean?}**

**{I mean that people are gathering together for the sole purpose of killing other players.}**

**{My god... that's horrible!}**

**{I know, but unfortunately it seems player killing is within the boundaries of SAO.}**

**{But... why? Why would people do that?}**

**{I can think of two reasons off the top of my head. One, they don't take this 'death game' that seriously. Two, they're just genuinely sick and evil people.}**

Zelda shuddered as Link continued speaking. **{In any event, I'm not particularly concerned with why, just avoiding them if at all possible.}**

A small crowd caught Link's eye, and he was dumbstruck at who was at the center of it. "Speaking of people I'd rather avoid..."

There on a tree stump sat a spiky-haired young man, bemoaning the loss of his hand and begging anyone who would listen to 'avenge' him. Fortunately, the truth about exactly why he lost his hand had also made it out of the dungeon, along with his new moniker:

Kibaou the Thief.

Link made a point to look away, while Zelda unsheathed her sword and stared Kibaou directly in the eye as they walked past. If he didn't recognize her by her dress, he certainly recognized the menacing blade she carried, for he jumped down and fled into the forest. "Looks like he remembered the promise I made to him."

"Promise?"

"That if he ever came at my partner again, I'd cut off more than just a hand."

"Ah... yes, I do remember that," Link said with a slight chuckle.

"You sound as if you disapprove?"

"No, not at all. In fact, I commend your restraint. Were I in your place, I might have just killed him."

"You don't mean that."

"I mean, I can't say for sure. You at least knew he wasn't actually trying to harm me, just steal something from me. Who's to say I'd have had the same judgment? You're by far the wiser of the two of us."

"Is that why you listen to me?"

"Of course... what kind of question is that?"

Zelda put her sword away and clung to his near arm. "Well... I've always wondered why you always listen to my ideas, without ever questioning them."

"Because they're good ideas."

"How do you know?"

"Because I trust you."

"Really?"

"Yup. Unflinchingly and unquestioningly."

"Wow... thank you. That means a lot to me."

"You're welcome." He stopped walking just long enough to kiss her on the forehead, sending her into a brief yet uncontrollable fit of glee. "Of course, I also trust you not to make me regret that trust."

Zelda backed away. "Are you saying that I'm not allowed to make mistakes?"

Link shook his head. "No, that's not what I meant. Mistakes are one thing, and we're all guilty of them. Bad decisions and choices are another."

"Oh... okay. I think I understand that. And I trust you to protect me and keep me safe, but that doesn't mean deliberately putting yourself in danger. Bravery isn't the same as bravado, courage isn't the same as cockiness."

"You're right about that... that seems like a fair request. I won't go around blindly throwing myself into danger if I can avoid it."

"Good." She reached up and gave him a peck on the cheek as they continued walking. Eventually they came upon the floor dungeon. With Illfang, the floor boss and its previous occupant, having been dispatched, there was nothing between them and Floor 2.

**===== Floor 2: Necluda Grasslands =====**

The players emerged from the tower on a massive plain that stretched as far as the eye could see. They spotted a few structures and ruins out in the distance, but what they were was anyone's guess. One thing Zelda noticed right away was a lack of roads, which meant they'd have no choice but to travel through potentially hostile fields. Figuring any monsters they encountered wouldn't be too high in level for them to take on, they struck out under the same mantra they had adopted on Floor 1: slay any monsters and assist any players they came across.

As it turned out, there were plenty of both to go around.

The monsters ended up being challenging enough for the pair to contend with, not to mention what the average solo player must have felt like. Thus what looked like a three-hour trek to the nearest stable turned into about five hours worth of walking, hunting and fighting. They stopped for a brief rest and a quick meal before striking out after the Floor Bosses. If the beta information was still to be relied on, escaping the second floor meant slaughtering a group of Hinoxes that roamed the field, rather than hunkering down in a dungeon. Each one held a key to one of four locks on the tower leading to the third floor. They were in luck, as they were able to circle the field and slay a Red, Blue and Black Hinox with relative ease. They had to wait for nightfall to find the last one, a skeletal monster called a Stalnox. Once it fell and they had the final key in their possession, they unlocked the tower so that players could continue to pass through, bedding down for the rest of the night at a nearby stable.

**===== Floor 3: Necluda Province =====**

The following morning, they were in the middle of ordering breakfast when another person approached their table. "Excuse me, might I have a word?"

Link looked up at the source of the voice. It came from a tall, muscular woman who Link judged to be about his own height, possibly slightly taller. She had snow white hair with a single braid hanging down over her right shoulder with red beads at the end, and red markings on her face. Her weapon was an ornate spear and her armor was light blue cloth reinforced with iron plates (what they could see under the cloak she wore, at least). Link didn't spot a cursor over her head, which meant she could only be another NPC. Sensing no immediate threat, he asked for another chair and motioned for her to sit between himself and Zelda.

"Thank you," she said in a grave tone. "My name is Paya, and I have traveled from my village to find you."

"Find who, exactly?" Zelda asked with more than a slight hint of skepticism.

"The green warrior and the princess knight."

"And you automatically think that's us... why?" Link asked, completely dismissing the fact that he and Zelda were wearing distinctive armor, not to mention his tunic was a standout shade of emerald green. Zelda chided him, then asked how they could be of help.

"An hour's ride from here, there is a farm that supplies the three settlements in this province: Hateno Town in the south, Kakariko Village in the west, and Necluda City in the east. The supply routes have been plagued by monsters, bandits and thieves as of late. I was sent to find help to escort the supplies. My elder told me I could find a green warrior and a princess knight here at this stable." She raised her hand to flag down a waitress, and Zelda got a brief glance at her armor underneath the cloak. "The convoys-"

"You need convoy security, I take it? We'll help you," Zelda said.

Link was shocked. "Zelda, what are y-"

"_We're helping,_" Zelda growled with a glare. "Paya, what do you need us to do?"

"Can you shoot a bow?"

Link and Zelda gasped in surprise. "I can, but he can't."

"Then I'll need you to learn before nightfall. That's when the next convoy leaves." A quest dialog opened up for each player:

* * *

**_Archery Training_**

_Paya needs your help escorting a convoy of supplies around Necluda Province, but first you'll have to prove you can handle a bow._

_Report to Bowmaster Cado at Lon Lon Farm for training._

_Accept / Deny_

* * *

Both players tapped 'Accept,' and Paya got up to leave. "We leave the farm at sundown," she informed them, tossing a couple coins on the table to pay for their meal. After she walked away, Link eyed Zelda suspiciously. "Remember what I said about bad decisions?"

"Yeah..."

"What made you think that trusting that woman like that was such a good idea?"

She moved into the now empty seat next to him and grabbed the Sheikah Slate from his belt. "When she raised her hand to get the waitress' attention, I happened to get a glance at her armor. Her breastplate had a symbol just like this!"

"No shit!"

"I shit you not! That's how I knew we could trust her!"

For Link, that was good enough. He gave Zelda a lingering kiss on the forehead. "In case I haven't told you lately, you're a fucking genius."

The two rode out to the southwest to Lon Lon Farm and reported to Cado as per their instructions. "So, you're gonna be helping Lady Paya guard the supply convoys? Thanks a lot!"

Their quest step completed and they were each rewarded with a Traveler's Bow. Cado launched right into the archery lessons. Link and Zelda each equipped their bows and aimed at their practice targets. A circle appeared in their fields of vision when they drew back the bowstrings, constantly growing and shrinking randomly. They learned that the circle was the field of aim, and that the arrow would strike randomly in the circle when released. Keeping a calm head and steady hand made the circle more rhythmic and predictable, while erratic nerves would cause the circle to grow and shrink at different rates or move off center. They spent a full day practicing, remembering Paya's edict that they leave at sundown.

Paya arrived as the last of the wagons was being loaded and lined up, with an additional squad of guards to ride on the wagons themselves. She, Link and Zelda were riding on horseback with both their bows and melee weapons at their disposal. Their objective was simple: keep any and all enemies away from the six wagons in the convoy. They were dropping one wagon off in Hateno. They would then ride northeast to Necluda to drop off three wagons, and finish the journey at Kakariko with the remaining two.

As Link helped her mount up, Zelda had another idea. "Why don't you ride counterclockwise around the convoy? That way your bow arm will be facing out, and you won't be pulling back across your body unnecessarily."

Link mounted up and pivoted to both the right and the left, and he did find that facing to his right felt easier and more natural. Doing so also kept him from aiming at the convoy itself. "What about you? You're right-handed too. Unless you're suggesting we both ride in the same direction?"

"No, I'm gonna ride clockwise. To be honest, I feel way too nervous about shooting arrows from horseback, so I'm gonna try to use my sword instead."

"You sure about that?"

"Yeah. I just feel more confident with my sword. I'll leave the ranged enemies to you and take care of anything that gets too close."

"Sounds like a good plan to me."

As the sun went down, Paya took up her own mount and bade the convoy follow. Since there were no roads to follow, they were able to chart a path straight to Hateno Village. Not even five minutes away from the ranch, however, the need for additional security became apparent. Flying Keese and mounted Bokoblins started attacking the convoy, and although they weren't particularly strong, what they lacked in power they made up for in numbers. Link and Zelda's strategy worked well enough; he used his bow to take down the airborne enemies, while she switched between bow and sword to take out the mobs on the ground.

They arrived at the town of Hateno with the convoy intact and long enough to get fresh horses for the wagons and all three guards. Continuing their journey toward Necluda City shortly before midnight, the enemies they encountered were slightly stronger and more numerous, and included the never-before-seen Lizalfos, but they were nothing Link, Zelda and Paya couldn't handle by working together. Again the convoy safely reached its destination, stopping just long enough to refresh and resupply for their last leg to Kakariko Village.

"Hey Link, got a question for you," Zelda said.

"Go for it."

"Why do you think we're taking two wagons to Kakariko last? From a difficulty standpoint, three are harder to guard, right? So maybe this last stop will be a little bit easier, do you think?"

Link shrugged. "I honestly have no idea. Maybe we'll find out when we get there."

Significantly smaller and thus much better protected, the convoy resumed its journey around 2:00 AM. The enemies were significantly stronger, in vastly increased numbers, and introduced Moblins to the field. Still, all went well for the most part... until they reached the gates of Kakariko Village.

Blocking their way was a green-skinned giant, mounted on an armored horned boar. It carried a hammer in one hand, a shield in the other, and a bow on its back. On the ground surrounding it were a dozen smaller green critters carrying shields. It let out a massive roar, and five health bars and a red cursor appeared over its head, along with the monster's name:

King Bulblin.


	11. Floor 3 (I): Necluda

**===== Floor 3: Gates of Kakariko Village =====**

The convoy Link, Zelda, and their new ally Paya were escorting arrived at the gates of Kakariko village as the moon began to disappear beyond the western horizon.

Blocking their way was a green-skinned giant, mounted on an armored horned boar. It carried a hammer in one hand, a shield in the other, and a bow on its back. On the ground surrounding it were a dozen smaller green critters carrying shields. It let out a massive roar, and five health bars and a red cursor appeared over its head, along with the monster's name:

King Bulblin.

Link spurred his steed into motion. "Paya, keep the wagons out of range! Zelda, on me!"

Paya nodded, directing the wagons to a safe place along the walls of the village. Zelda rode to catch up with Link. "What's your plan?"

"Hmm... holy shit, move!" King Bulblin had drawn his bow and was taking aim at where Link and Zelda were standing. They started riding immediately, and his arrow sailed harmlessly to where they had been when he shot. Link took out his bow and fired several arrows, which the boss deflected effortlessly.

"I got an idea, let's surround it!" Zelda shouted as she rode ahead of Link to the other side of the boss. Once they were both on opposite sides of the monster, they matched their speed to keep him directly between them. The monster kept firing at Link, but he was at a safe distance to render the arrows harmless. Meanwhile, Zelda put her plan into motion and took aim at the monster's back with her own bow. She let loose several arrows...

...only to see the boss deflect them with its shield at the last second.

"What the... how is it possibly that fast?" she shouted.

"Don't worry," Link assured her. "It's an immunity mechanic. We can't attack the boss itself just yet. There's something we have to do first... the minions!"

Zelda observed the twelve creatures on the ground moving in a circle around the boss, holding shields up in front of them. "They have shields too... but they're not wearing much armor..."

_Think, Zelda, think... Link's counting on one of your genius ideas right now... wait, I got it!_

Zelda raised her bow once again and took careful aim. It was tough keeping her horse riding in a reasonably tight circle around the boss _and_ aim her bow, but eventually she managed it. She waited for the aiming circle to get as narrow as she could get it, settled on top of her target, and let an arrow fly.

It sailed over the head of one minion...

...past the boss and its armored mount...

...and struck a minion _on the far side square in the back of the head,_ killing it instantly and dropping the boss' health bar by one-third.

Zelda whooped in joy. "Aim for the back of their heads! They're invulnerable from the front, but completely defenseless from the back!"

"You got it!" Arrows were now flying at King Bulblin from both sides, slowly, surely, and gradually picking his minions off one by one. Once the last one fell and the boss was down to a single health bar, it let out a massive roar. Link suddenly lost control of his mount, and the boss took that opportunity to fire one last arrow. It struck Link in the shoulder, knocking him from his horse. He was dazed but unhurt, and his HP hadn't decreased from its previous level. He snatched the arrow out and looked behind him. Zelda was now bearing down on him, and he effortlessly hopped onto the back of her horse. He tried to take up his bow again, but the "injury" from being shot now became apparent as his arm was practically useless.

"Give me the reins!" he commanded Zelda, thinking as quickly as he could. "I'll drive, you shoot!"

"Right!" Link continued to steer in a circle, keeping a fair distance from King Bulbin while staying within range of Zelda's arrows. Zelda took a couple of shots at the boss, who was now firing on the move from the back of his armored hog. Link started moving around in more unpredictable patterns, which kept them safer but also gave Zelda problems aiming. Although that was the least of her problems; every arrow that flew anywhere near the boss, it deflected effortlessly. It must still be immune for whatever reason...

_...meaning they had to defeat the mount first!_

Unfortunately, the hog had a full-face iron helmet and couldn't be attacked from the front. However...

"Link, flank it!"

"You got it!" Link started circling King Bulblin once again, which turned out to be a somewhat arduous chore, yet still possible due to the horse being faster than the hog. A hog carrying a giant green monster on its back couldn't possibly move faster than a horse.

Which must've been why its rider opted not to equip it with any armor whatsoever on its sides.

Zelda took full advantage of that shortcoming and filled the hog's hide with arrows. Surprisingly, it fell after only three shots, finally leaving the boss on the ground. It stashed its bow and equipped its hammer and shield, which Link and Zelda took as their cue to dismount and engage in blade-to-blade combat. The boss' attack patterns were slow and predictable, which made defeating it a simple matter of patience and timing. The boss exploded in a shower of shards just as the sun began to peek over the horizon.

With the boss defeated, the village guards opened the gates and Paya escorted the wagons through. Once everyone was safe inside, she showed Link and Zelda to an inn. "I appreciate all your help. Please, come visit me at my home before you leave. My grandmother is anxious to meet you." The players' quest logs updated:

* * *

**_Supply Escort_**

_You've successfully helped escort supplies around Necluda. Before you leave, however, you should visit Paya and her grandmother at Paya's home._

* * *

"Visit Paya and her grandmother... that's all fine and dandy, but first-"

"We both need to rest. We don't usually work overnight like this."

Link and Zelda got a room at the inn Paya had escorted them to and bunked down for the day. They alternated between sleeping and lovemaking until the following morning, when they made their way to the largest house in the center of the village. However, the guards posted outside crossed their spears in front of them and blocked their passage.

"This is the house of Lady Impa. No one may pass without - wait a moment... green clothing, and on your hip... is that a Sheikah Slate?!" The guards stood down and allowed Link and Zelda to pass. "My apologies. Lady Impa has been expecting you. Please, go inside." The two climbed the stairs and entered the house, where the found a short old woman seated on a platform. She wore white clothing with red trim, but her most distinguishing feature was her bamboo cone hat, which had the Sheikah symbol printed on it.

"Ah, you've finally come," came a voice from beneath the hat. It sounded warm and friendly, while also ancient and wise. "My granddaughter did well to bring you here."

She raised her head to look the two heroes in the face. "I am Impa, elder of the Sheikah and chief of this village. It is a pleasure and honor to meet you, Link and Zelda."

Link and Zelda took a step back in shock, but quickly composed themselves. "Thank you, Lady Impa," Link said. "Why have you sought us out?"

Impa smirked as she pointed her cane at Link's hip. "Isn't it obvious?"

"You mean... the Sheikah Slate."

Impa nodded. "A powerful relic from a long lost age. As are..." She closed her eyes as if she were meditating. "...the Ocarina of Time, and..."

She pointed at Zelda. "...the Wind Waker. So, it is true... the heroes of legend have returned, giving hope to this land."

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Link blurted out. "The Ocarina of Time? The Wind Waker? I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Link, calm down," Zelda urged. "Lady Impa, you mentioned the Wind Waker. Are you talking about-"

"The baton you found in the Lakebed Shrine?" Impa interrupted with a smile. "Yes, I know all about it, and about you as well. As do others in this province." Another quest dialog appeared in front of both Link and Zelda:

* * *

**_*****Unique Quest*****_**

**_The Sheikah Slate_**

_After meeting with the Sheikah elder, she advised you to visit several locations within Necluda Province to learn more about certain instruments you've discovered along your travels. Spend some time at the Ancient Laboratory in Hateno Town, the Monument of Heroes in Kakariko Village, and the Imperial Library in Necluda City._

* * *

After a moment the box disappeared and the quest 'auto-populated' into their quest logs. Suddenly, Link felt his Sheikah Slate vibrate. He pulled it out and saw three new blips on the map. "Before you can progress any further, you must learn more about the tools available to you, and about this kingdom."

As she finished speaking, the door opened behind Link and Zelda. They turned around to see Paya standing there with another young woman, who immediately hid behind Paya as soon as she saw the two adventurers. "Good morning... I'm glad you found your way here. I trust you've rested?"

"Yes, thank you. We were glad to help, although that boss battle outside the village was a fair challenge," said Link.

"Boss battle?" Impa piped up. "Ah yes, the so-called King Bulblin that was blocking the village gates. My granddaughter told me about how you handled that cretin. For your troubles, I thank you. Paya?"

"Yes, ma'am?"

"That bulblin tribe has always been a right nuisance, but they've never been this bold before. I fear there may be some unseen force at work, guiding their actions. Go scout their encampments and report back to me."

"It shall be done." She left to set about the task her elder had assigned her. Meanwhile, Impa addressed the younger girl who was still standing dumbstruck in the doorway. "Kiwi, have you finished your chores?"

"N-no ma'am, I'll get right on them!" She almost tripped over her own feet as she booked it out of the house.

"That is my youngest granddaughter, Kiwi," Impa said with a slight laugh. "She's kind but extremely shy around strangers, although she tends to warm up to people eventually."

"While I'm sure that's the case," Zelda interrupted, "it seems we have a fair bit of work to do." She bowed slightly, and Link repeated the gesture. "We'll be on our way now."

"By all means, the hospitality of Necluda is yours," Impa promised with a smile. "Feel free to return if you have any questions."

Outside in the village proper, Link pulled up his Shiekah Slate. One of the map blips was in Kakariko Village, so he suggested they start their search there.

"Not a bad idea, but still..."

"You think we should start somewhere else?"

"I think the library might give us more context on what we find in the other two places."

"Okay, but let's at least swing by the monument before we leave the village. There might be something immediately worthwhile there."

"Okay... it is right here, after all."

The blip for the Monument of Heroes sat on a hilltop overlooking the walls of Kakariko Village. There was nothing signifying any particular landmark, but there was another stone monolith akin to the one over the Lakebed Temple. Link activated the pedestal with the Sheikah Slate, revealing another platform that descended below the surface. They rode it down and emerged in a room full of statues and stained glass windows. The same ominous voice from the Lakebed Temple spoke:

_Children of the sword, I am Ta'Loh Naeg, Lorekeeper of the Goddess._

_You stand among the great heroes of the kingdom of Hyrule._

_Their legacy now bears upon your shoulders._

_Prove your courage and wisdom, and take your place among legends._

With that, the voice went silent. Link clasped Zelda's hand tightly as they made their way around the room. Each statue had a pedestal at its foot in a language they couldn't read, which they made a note of to research in the library. One thing stood out like a sore thumb: the Hero on each statue wore a green tunic, much like Link's. Some stood accompanied by a woman in a royal gown, some were alone, but they all had the same green garb, as well as the same sword in hand. "Link, that sword..."

"I can promise you, we're not gonna find that sitting on some vendor's shelf."

"But we definitely need to find it. And I have no idea where to start looking."

Link chuckled and kissed Zelda on the forehead. "Don't worry... you already did."

"...Huh?"

He led her back to the platform to return to the surface. "Remember when you said we should go to the library first?"

"Yeah, but you didn't think that was a good idea."

"It wasn't that it wasn't a good idea, but we had absolutely no idea what to look for. Now we do. These heroes, legends, that sword... I'd bet money we can find all sorts of information about everything in this monument in the library."

That seemed to cheer Zelda up a bit, knowing that her idea wasn't so much bad as it was... unrefined?

In any event, they opted to fight their way to Necluda City on foot so as to take advantage of the rich hunting grounds of Necluda Province. The trek took about eight hours, but yielded plenty of loot, Col and enough XP to push both players to Lv. 14 by the time they reached the city's gates. They took note of several noteworthy locations as they pushed toward the library, where they immediately started leafing through books. Using keywords like 'courage,' 'wisdom,' 'green,' 'sword,' 'triforce,' and others, they were able to put together a sizable stack of reading material.

"Hey Link, look at this!" Zelda exclaimed, pushing a book called _Mythology of the Triforce_ under Link's nose. "It says here that the green tunic has always been worn by a hero who collected something called the 'Triforce of Courage.' It had been split into eight pieces, and each one was hidden in a dungeon. Once he had all eight, he traveled to Death Mountain to defeat the Demon King."

"Interesting..."

"That's not all. In another age, the hero inherited the Triforce of Courage after being sealed away for seven years. After he defeated the Demon King in his era, the Triforce was again shattered into eight shards for his successor to find."

"Did he?"

"Yup, at the bottom of a vast sea."

"I see... well, it's probably safe to say that this Aincrad was built on the legends passed down about this kingdom of Hyrule. Which means that somewhere in this castle are shards of this Triforce I have to find somehow."

"No, that _we_ have to find."

"What do you mean?"

"The Triforce was named such because it was a set of three golden triangles. The Triforce of Courage was one part, always residing with the hero in green. The Triforce of Wisdom was another part, always carried by the princess, in whose veins flowed the blood of divinity itself. The legends say she was the very reincarnation of the goddess Hylia herself."

"Okay, that makes a little bit of sense since you have the same markings on your hand as I do. But then..."

"The third part?" Zelda frowned. "This is where things get dark. You see, the Triforce of Power was always carried by... the Demon King himself."

Link froze for a moment, then closed his book. "Of course it was. Let's head to Hateno."

Zelda was stunned at Link's sudden shift in mood but opted not to say anything, following him quietly back to the fields of Necluda. They made their way to Hateno Town and bedded down for the night, choosing to investigate the Ancient Laboratory in the morning. Zelda lay in bed with her head on Link's chest, as she had grown accustomed to doing, yet Link just stared at the ceiling. His trance was broken by his companion's lips, and for a while he allowed himself to forget the worries of the day and indulge himself in her presence.

After they made love, Zelda finally worked up the courage to say the two words that had been wracking her brain since they left Necluda City.

"What's wrong?"

Link sighed and took her right hand in his own. "Three triangles, representing the three golden goddesses who crafted the land of Hyrule so many eons ago. Power, wisdom, and courage, all resting delicately in a balance that maintains the world. But... what if that balance were broken?"

"Broken how?"

"I don't know, and I can't put it into words. But I get the sensation that these Triforce pieces weren't meant to reside in mortal beings like this."

"I see... I suppose that makes sense enough."

"More importantly than that, if you and I have two of the pieces, then-"

"Someone out there either has or is searching for the Triforce of Power," Zelda finished for him. "You're probably right. And whoever it is could be seeking out the other two pieces... is that's what's been bothering you all day?"

Link nodded a silent assent as he sat up, dropping his head in his hands. "It's bad enough that we're trapped in this death game to begin with. Going through it with a target on our backs though, or hands as it were... I hadn't expected that."

Zelda stood up and looked out the window for a moment. Their room overlooked the countryside beyond the town's walls, and was quiet and serene. And somewhere out there was this mystical Triforce, bestowing godlike powers to whoever found it.

Power to liberate the world, to conquer it, or to unmake it entirely.

She turned and saw Link still sitting at the edge of the bed, eyes closed and fists clenched. She had learned what that meant over the years; he was fighting himself not to cry. The only times she had ever seen him like this was when he was legitimately afraid of something. Comforting him had always been... difficult, to say the least. Usually she just sat next to him until he either said something or stormed off to his room.

But that was a different time, with different people. Before she was his and he was hers. His pain and fear were hers as well now, and she would be damned if she let him bear it alone.

Link was on the verge of breaking down in tears when he felt a sudden weight in his lap. Zelda had straddled him, and before he could utter a single word of what-the-fuckery, his face was buried in her cleavage. "We made a promise, remember?" she choked out through tears of her own as she gently stroked his head. "You don't have to face this alone... I'm right here by your side. And I always will be."

"Just like you always have been," he whispered, wrapping his arms around her.

"Like I always have been."


	12. Floor 3 (II): A New Ally

**===== Floor 3: Hateno Town =====**

Link awoke to delicious smells and sounds coming from the kitchen. He sat up in bed with a mighty yawn, which drew Zelda's attention from the stove for a moment.

"Good morning," she said with a smile in a cute, almost pixie-ish voice.

"Mmm... good morning, baby." Link rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, and got a good look at Zelda for the first time on this particular morning. She was doing her thing over the stove, with her raven-black hair in a single braid down to her waist, tied back in various places with the strings of the frilly blue apron she wore.

An apron she wore with absolutely nothing else, as it were.

"Did you sleep well?" she asked as she returned to her tasks.

"Well enough... but forget about that for a moment; what are you cooking? It smells amazing."

"Well, you seemed a little bothered last night, so I thought a nice breakfast would cheer you up. I'm making your favorite: a broccoli and cheddar omelette, bacon, and a bowl of fruit. Hope you enjoy it."

"Thank you, that's very sweet of you," Link said with a smile.

"Well, come on... hurry up and eat before it gets cold," Zelda urged, herding Link into a chair and setting his plate in front of him.

"All right, all right... but wait a sec: didn't you cook something for yourself as well?"

"Oh, don't worry... I have my own breakfast planned out already," she said as she disappeared below the table.

"Okay... if you say s-s-sss-ooooohhh…"

The two finished their breakfast, got dressed, and were out exploring Hateno Town by about 8 o'clock in the morning. They found a dye shop that could color entire outfits for a couple hundred Col and a few materials, depending on the color one wanted. There was also a general store that sold a few local cooking materials they hadn't found in the game yet. There was also armor, weapons, everything typical about a town in Aincrad. But what really caught Link's eye was a wedding chapel.

"Hey, Zelda, I just had an idea."

"What's that?"

"What say... you and I... get married?"

Zelda stopped dead in her tracks. "Whaaaaaaaaaat?"

"Marriage in this game has some interesting benefits. One, our inventories become shared. Two, we can see each other's status information at all times. Three, we can talk to each other in real time no matter how far apart we are."

"When would we ever be that far apart?"

"Hmm... when we're trying to surprise a really strong monster? Like that Guardian on Floor 1? You have to admit, it would have been a lot easier than trying to message back and forth. Or when we're trying to surround one the way we fought King Bulblin? Would've been nice to be able to speak instead of shout, don't you think?"

Zelda facepalmed. "Once again, you have managed to take an absolute clusterfuck of an idea and make it sound halfway reasonable."

"So... is that a yes?"

"Yes, you idiot, I'll marry you."

"Okay." Link went through the menu and sent Zelda a marriage request. She accepted, and a shiny silver ring appeared on each of their left hands. Zelda couldn't hide the disgust on her face as she looked at hers. "That's it? Certainly not how I envisioned getting married... you know you owe me for this, right?"

Link tilted her chin up and took her hands in his. "I tell you what: when we clear Floor 99, we are gonna have the absolute biggest wedding the world has ever seen."

Zelda's blue eyes sparkled at the word _wedding_. "Really? You mean that? You're not just saying that because I'm about three seconds away from testing if this town is a safe zone, are you?"

"No, I really mean it. I'm talking dress, tux, music, the whole deal. We'll invite _literally everyone_ in the game, the reception will last for days... what do you say?"

Zelda was now grinning in spite of herself. "Okay, you got a deal. I guess I'll let you keep your legs in the meantime... you'll need them to walk down the aisle," she said with a smirk.

"Love you too, sweetheart," Link chuckled.

They made their way through the streets of Hateno Town, toward the Ancient Laboratory the Sheikah Slate indicated was near the outskirts. They found a pattern outside the front door similar to the shrines they had visited, only it seemed to be inactive. They went inside the small building and saw a small child standing on a chair in the middle of the room, and an older gentleman looking over a shelf of books in the back of the room. Both were dressed similarly to Lady Impa, which meant they must be Sheikah tribesmen as well.

The child spoke first. "Hello... this is the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab. Do you have some business with the director?"

"That's right," Zelda answered, not really knowing who else they should possibly be looking for.

"The director is in the back," the child replied. "A terribly busy person, that one. Please try to keep it brief."

Seeing only the one other person in the room, Link and Zelda approached the man poring over the bookshelves. "Hello, sir?"

"Hello," the man replied as he turned away from the bookshelves to face them. "This is the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab. We've gathered all known literature on Aincrad's ancient civilizations here. As for the actual number of books, well-"

He stopped short, something about Link having caught his eye. "Is that... that thing on your waist - is that a Sheikah..."

The director's eyes got big. "There's no mistaking it - that's a real Sheikah Slate, isn't it? I've never actually seen one in person! If you could just show me the runes on it, I'd be most appreciative."

_Sure, anything to shut you up for a moment. _Link took the Sheikah Slate from its hooks on his belt and showed the man the runes he had unlocked in the shrine on the first floor.

"Stasis, ah... Magnesis, yes, yes... the Remote Bomb and Cryonis... and what else? Let's see... that's it for the runes, but... strange. It doesn't seem like you have the basic runes. I don't understand why they're missing. There must be _some_ reason..."

"That explains the blank squares in the grid," Link thought out loud.

"Ah, where are my manners? I nearly forgot to introduce myself," the man said. "My name is Symin. And you are... Link and Zelda, right?"

"Yes, that's right." _Of course an NPC would 'know' our names; chalk it up to video game logic and think nothing else of it._

"Lady Impa caught me up to speed. We were told, "A young man holding a Shiekah Slate will appear, and you must do all you can to help him. His name will be Link."

Before Link could say anything, Symin continued on, "Oh dear! I forgot to tell you something very important."

He looked over Link's shoulder. "Director! Listen, Ms. Director! This is a real Sheikah Slate!"

"Director?" Link and Zelda groaned simultaneously, looking with disbelief back to the center of the room.

Symin continued, "Oh, that's right... I haven't introduced our director. Ms. Purah happens to be right over there. As the director of the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab, she is the world's foremost authority on ancient culture."

Link and Zelda's eyes met, saying what they chose not to say with their words.

The only other person in the building... this child... was apparently the director of this lab. More weirdness to stack onto their already substantial pile of weird things about Aincrad.

"Check it!" Purah said, flashing a childlike pose.

"I have the utmost respect for Ms. Purah and all she's accomplished," Symin continued in the background. "I'm honored to be her assistant. On that note, the director may look like a young girl, but... well, maybe it's not my place to be telling you these things. You should speak to the director herself if you want to learn more."

Finally free of Symin's useless droning, Link and Zelda turned their attention to Purah herself.

"Heyyyy! Are you surprised? The director of this laboratory is not Symin. It's me!" Purah chirped, clearly impressed with herself for putting one over on the two players. "So, do you have any questions for me?"

Zelda blurted out what the two of them had been thinking for the past several minutes. "I have one: how is a child the director of an ancient tech lab?"

"How very rude!" Purah snapped. "Hmm... or perhaps it's not rude at all. I suppose that's actually a rather logical conclusion to jump to. The truth is, I look this way because of a failed experiment. Actually, I say 'failed,' but... in some ways, it was a success. I documented the full affair in my diary upstairs. BUT! The whole thing is embarrassing, so I insist you refrain from reading it!"

_Yeah, okay... then why the hell did you even tell us about it?!_ Link silently fumed, drawing a slight chuckle from Zelda. Apparently his facial expressions told the entire story.

"Anyway... enough about that! Back to the matter at hand!" Purah squeaked. "Here you are, to defeat the Calamity and rescue everyone! That is, if you've got the courage to try."

"And to help the true hero, I, the one and only Purah, will restore the basic functions missing from the Sheikah Slate! However..."

_And the penny drops_, Zelda groaned. This time Link chuckled as if he could read _her_ thoughts.

"...I need you to run an errand for me. You know the unlit furnace on the wall just outside this laboratory? Could you please light it using the blue flame from the ancient furnace in town? This sweet little Guidance Stone will start working once you do that, allowing us to restore your missing runes!"

Behind Link and Zelda was a pedestal with a stone hanging above it, identical to the ones they had encountered in the Lakebed Shrine. Apparently, it was officially called a 'Guidance Stone.'

"Okay then, I'm counting on you to get that blue flame!" Purah finally stopped talking, and Link and Zelda's quest logs updated, leaving them free to grab a torch go about their errand. The task was simplicity itself; the furnace was within the town, meaning there were no monsters to impede them in its completion. They did make a point of lighting all the lanterns in the town, hoping it would be better lit at night. Eventually they made their way back to the furnace and lit it, and the pattern in front of the door lit up. A message flashed briefly in both players' HUD:

_Hateno Ancient Tech Lab is now set as a travel gate._

"So, another spot we can warp to... that's always convenient," Link observed. "That's two on this floor, plus the five on the first floor." He pulled up a map of the first floor on his Sheikah Slate and counted the travel gates for Winds' Respite in the north, Wild's Cradle in the south, Twilight's Dusk in the west, Time's Dawn in the east, and Maz Koshia's Shrine in the center of the lake. "None on the second floor, though... that's kind of odd."

"Well, there wasn't much of anything noteworthy on Floor 2, just a giant plain with a few stables here and there."

"True enough... anyway, let's go find out what else this thing is supposed to do." The two entered the lab again to find Purah jumping gleefully. "Check it out! The Guidance Stone is starting to react! There's nothing mysterious about it - this is pure science!"

"Well then, let's go ahead and restore these missing runes..." Link mused as he stepped up to the pedestal and inserted the Sheikah Slate. The Guidance Stone 'spoke' as it powered up:

_Sheikah Slate authenticated._

_Camera and Hyrule Compendium confirmed._

_Starting repair._

The stone finished its operations, and Link saw two new icons on the main screen: one for the Camera rune, and one for something called the Sheikah Sensor. The empty grids were now organized in the Compendium under tabs labeled Creatures, Monsters, Materials, Equipment, and Treasure.

Satisfied with the slate's new functions, Link stashed it away on his belt and noticed his quest log update yet again, suggesting the pair return to Impa. They warped back to the Monument of Heroes in Kakariko Village, and made their way down the hills to Impa's house. She received them kindly once again, and both players received sizable rewards for completing her quest.

As they turned to leave, however, Paya burst in behind them. "Thank Hylia I've found you," she panted, clearly out of breath for whatever reason. "I desperately need your help!"

"Calm yourself, child," Impa chided. "These heroes have been working hard and need their rest. What could possibly be so important to trouble them so?"

The normally stoic warrior had a look of sheer panic in her eyes. "It's Kiwi!"

_The little girl,_ Zelda recalled.

"We were scouting the bulblin camps to the southwest, when suddenly several of their larger soldiers began to chase after us. I held them off, and she ran into the Kokiri Forest nearby. Once I had dealt with the monsters, I went in after her. But the entire forest is now overrun with monsters, more than I could deal with on my own. So I came back to town to find you two."

Paya was clearly holding back tears now. "I'm begging you... please, help me save my sister!"

A quest dialog opened, but both Link and Zelda hit 'Accept' without bothering to read it. A notification flashed:

_Paya has joined your party!_

A third status bar appeared right below theirs, with the name 'Paya' attached to it. Both players were odd at an NPC being integrated into their party, but they pushed it aside for the moment.

"We'll help you," Zelda confirmed. "How do we get to these woods?"

"We can ride west by south. It's rough terrain, but we can avoid the bulblins that way."

"What if we went through the camp?"

"It's a shorter distance, but you'd have to defeat an entire camp of monsters."

Zelda looked up to Link. Link looked back at Impa. "Lady Impa, you said those bulblins have been a problem as of late?"

"They've _always_ been a problem, but now more so than usual, it seems."

"I see... and something about a 'dark force' seems to merit further investigation. Paya, not only are we going to help you save Kiwi, we're gonna smash that bulblin camp on the way."

"Thank you... the entire region would be in your debt. There is a stable just beyond the north ridge of the village hills."

"I say we go on foot," Link ordered.

"Very well, then. The sooner we leave, the better. Meet me at the village gates when you're ready to leave."

Link and Zelda wasted no time going over their inventory and restocking their supplies at the shops in the village. They met up with Paya and all set out together to the southwest, where the bulblin camp and the Kokiri Forest lay according to Paya's recon. It didn't take them long to run into monsters, and the challenge of a new party member - one they couldn't even be sure would listen to their commands - presented itself once again. However, Paya seemed to not only obey their commands, but somehow began to anticipate them over time as well. She was talented with her weapon, which obviously wasn't for show despite its flashy appearance.

The enemies in the field were challenging but not overwhelming, as well as decently rewarding which justified Link's decision to fight through the enemies rather than ride on horseback around them. Eventually they reached a rise a safe distance from the bulblin camp and used the scope function on Link's Sheikah Slate to observe the camp from a distance. The trio lay prone, with Link in the middle and Zelda and Paya on his left and right flanks.

"How many do you count?" Zelda asked.

"Hmm... about forty from what I can see from here. They don't have much in the way of walls, so getting in won't be a problem."

"Should be manageable enough."

"They do have watchtowers," Paya contributed. "And if they sound any alarms, it will summon their stronger units."

"So getting into the camp won't be a problem-"

"But getting in _unseen_ might."

"Not necessarily... Paya, which side has the fewest guards? There might be a lot of them, but they're not that smart. If we can pick them off from a distance, we might be able to do some real damage and thin their numbers out before the big boys come to play."

Paya thought for a moment. "If we're going for the element of surprise, I would suggest attacking from the east. For whatever reason, they seem to like following the sun."

"Okay, I like the sound of - oh, wow... Link, don't you think we're a little busy for this now?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You rubbing your leg on top of mine."

"What are you talking about? My legs are straight out behind me."

"Stop playing around!"

Link rolled to his right and over Paya. "There, is that better?"

Zelda looked at Link in complete shock. "No, it's not. I still feel it." She looked down and saw a snake crawling its way up her leg underneath her skirt.

The more some things change, the more others stay the same. Lanay Runazaki had never been afraid of much in life, but at the top of that very short list sat snakes. Becoming Zelda had done nothing to quell those fears, as evidenced by the shriek she let out as she thrashed about trying to get the snake off of her, tumbling over the rise in the process. Link and Paya snickered briefly, cut off by a horn blast. They looked down at the camp and saw a couple of guards on watchtowers blaring away on horns.

Zelda had given their position away.

She composed himself and saw monsters streaming out of the camp towards her. Link and Paya slid down the rise to join her and quickly drew their weapons. "So much for the element of surprise," said Link.

"Oh well, stealth hasn't really been our style up to this point."

"Now what do we do?" Paya asked.

Zelda grinned as she drew her own sword.

"What heroes do best."


	13. Floor 3 (III): Through Kokiri Forest

**===== Floor 3: Necluda Province, outskirts of Kokiri Forest =====**

The sound of steel rang out across the battlefield, as the three heroes clashed against the hordes of monsters now teeming from the bulblin camp. Link, Zelda, and Paya slew everything in their path as they made their way inside the walls of the camp itself. After several minutes of combat a larger monster spawned with two health bars and the name "Keep Boss" above its head. Said 'boss' proved little more than an annoyance when confronted with Link and Zelda's combat prowess, and fell fairly swiftly. When it did, another shrine burst from the ground.

Link and Zelda descended into the earth, leaving Paya on the surface after some debate about her 'not being worthy' to go with them. They emerged in the cavernous shrine with a waterfall a short distance away. The familiar monk's voice greeted them:

_To you who sets foot in this shrine, I am Ha Dahamar._

_In the name of the Goddess Hylia, I offer this trial._

**===== The Water Guides =====**

The pair approached the waterfall, which was cascading down the wall to their right in front of a ledge that looked _just_ too high to climb. They tried boosting each other up, but for whatever reason they could not maintain their grip long enough to pull themselves up.

"So, these surfaces that the shrines are made out of are clearly not meant for climbing," Zelda thought out loud.

"Which means we have to figure out another way up," Link continued.

"Another way up... another way up..." Zelda started absentmindedly tapping her foot in the shallow pool in front of the ledge while she repeated those words.

_Splash. Splash. Splash._

"Umm, can you do that anywhere else but in that pool?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry..." She stepped one foot out of the pool, and a light bulb went off in her mind. "That's it... that's it!"

"What's what? Zelda, what are you talking about?"

She looked excitedly up to the ledge as her idea became a vision. "Not water, ice... Link, use the Shiekah Slate!"

"The Shei- of course!" Link fired up the Cryonis rune and used it to create a pillar of ice in the pool tall enough for them to climb and then step up onto the subsequent ledge, past which they found another waterfall and another ledge, but this time there was a drop off instead of a pool. Thinking quickly, Link used Cryonis to create a pair of pillars jutting out from the wall, which he and Zelda then used to climb up to the next ledge.

"So, pretty much all of these shrines are going to depend on using this Sheikah Slate to get through the puzzles inside. Does that seem like a safe bet?"

"It does to me, although this is the first one we've come across that wasn't either a tutorial or a combat trial. So we don't exactly have a whole lot of information to go on."

"True enough... in any case, let's press on."

Press on they did, and the shrine opened up into a massive cavern with another waterfall on the far side of the room. Embedded in the wall were a pair of large ramps with a gap between them, a see-saw directly below the gap, and a glowing round pit on the ground near a closed gate. Periodically, a ball would fall down from a pipe in the ceiling, roll down both ramps, and disappear into the abyss below...

...only to reappear from the pipe moments later.

"Looks like we need to get that ball into that pit," Zelda surmised.

"Any ideas on how to do that?" Link asked, the solution already forming in his own mind.

"Cryonis. Put ice blocks above the low ramp, under the high end of the lever, and between the low end and the pit." Link followed her instructions step by step, creating a perfect path for the sphere to roll into the pit and open the gate.

Turning back to the stairs leading downwards to the exit, Link spied a chest on a platform in between the first two waterfalls they had come across but about twenty feet in the air. He realized he would need to create a set of Cryonis pillars to reach it, which by now seemed simple enough. He created the first block and climbed on top of it, while Zelda turned back towards the giant abyss to focus on a giant cracking sound she had heard.

_What was that noise?_

Surveying the wall, she saw there were only two blocks of ice still in place. _The first one must have shattered when he used the rune again._ "Hey, Link?"

"Yeah?"

"Looks like you can only have three ice blocks set at any one time. If you try to make more, they'll crack in the order you set them."

"That's another useful piece of advice... good job." He stood on top of his newly created ice block and aimed the rune at the wall once again to create the next step up. Unfortunately, he aimed it a little too close to where he was standing, and the block pushed him away from the wall and into the abyss!

Zelda watched in horror as Link plummeted to his death...

...only to reappear on the platform in front of her moments later!

She cautiously approached him as he slowly got his bearings back about him. "Chris? Is - is that really you?"

Link got back to his feet as the confusion gradually left him. "Yeah Lanay, it's me." He looked at her, then the waterfall where two ice blocks jutted out in the form of a staircase. "Looks like I aimed the rune a little too close to myself."

"Forget about that... the pitfall should have killed you."

"Yeah, it should have..." Link thought back to the ball above the far abyss. "Maybe death mechanics bend somewhat while we're in these shrines?"

"Who knows..." Zelda hugged Link close to her. "For right now, I'm just glad you're all right."

Link returned the hug and added a forehead kiss. "Me too."

Their latest brush with death now behind them, Link climbed the two ice pillars once again, creating a third to reach the treasure chest which contained the Timeless Hyrulean Leggings. He rejoined Zelda on the platform below and secured another Spirit Orb on the way out of the shrine.

Paya sat on the platform polishing her blade as Link and Zelda returned from their subterranean excursion. "That didn't take long," she remarked. "Come, we must press on to the Kokiri Forest."

Link and Zelda filled Paya in on what they had learned about the shrines so far. They also attempted to pick her brain about their discoveries in the Monument of Heroes and the Imperial Library, but nothing really seemed to register with the Sheikah warrior. "Perhaps once my sister is safe, I will accompany you on your journey. I would like to learn more about these legends you speak of."

**{An NPC accompanying us permanently? How is that even possible?}** Link questioned Zelda in French so as to try to avoid Paya's understanding.

**{I've pretty much stopped question 'possible' and 'impossible' in this world. Maybe it's just her script, who knows.}**

**{Valid point...}**

The trio approached a giant hollow tree trunk. "This is it," Paya said, "the entrance to the Kokiri Forest. Ready your weapons, for this once peaceful glade has been overrun with wicked monsters."

"Anything special about them we should know?" Zelda asked Paya.

"They will try to kill you," she replied. "Kill them back."

"Short, simple, and to the point. I like it," Link mused as he drew his sword and shield.

**===== Kokiri Forest =====**

No sooner had Link, Zelda and Paya entered the forest then they were besieged by two giant pods with teeth. They jumped, rolled and dodged as best they could to try and avoid their attacks, and eventually found themselves out of range. "What the hell are these things?" Zelda exclaimed.

"Deku Babas," Paya replied. "Their bite is nasty, but their stalks only reach so far so it's easy to stay away from them."

"That keeps them from killing us," Link quipped, "but how do _we_ kill _them_?"

"Their heads are invulnerable as long as they're still rooted to the ground."

"Hmm..." Link cautiously approached one of the Babas with his shield raised. It reared back for a moment, then lunged to strike. Link countered with a shield bash, causing the plant to stand up straight on its stalk. Link rushed in with no hesitation, slashing away at the stalk as much as he could before it recovered. The head was now focused on Link, so it had no way of protecting itself from attacks from behind, which Zelda quickly took advantage of to finish it off. They used a similar tandem approach to slay the other Baba on the other side of the hollow.

Now safe for the moment, the party took in their surroundings. The Kokiri Forest wasn't so much a 'forest' itself, as it was an open grassland bordered on all sides by trees. There were several large trees that looked like they had been fashioned into buildings. On the far side was a tunnel, but neither Link nor Zelda could see what was on the other end of it. Nor did they see any inhabitants of this forest, despite clear signs that people lived here. Most likely they were cowering indoors due to the presence of the monsters, so Link and Zelda proceeded to do what they did best: slaughter every single monster they came across. There were only Deku Babas and Deku Scrubs, little impish sprouts that spat nuts at the players. Defeating them was easy enough: they just had to knock the nuts back at the Scrubs, after which they fell to a single sword strike.

Once the Forest was completely void of enemies, a triumphant little tone played and people started coming out of their tree houses. "Quickly, put your weapons away," Paya cautioned. "As you can see, the Kokiri are easily frightened and we may need their help to find my sister."

"If she didn't come out when we cleared the forest, chances are she's not here," Link suggested.

"Link's right," Zelda concurred. She had her eye on the far side of the forest. "Let's check out that tunnel. It's the only other place she could be."

"Very well, if you insist," Paya ceded. Settled on a course of action, the trio proceeded through the tunnel at the far end of the forest. After passing through several bends and slaying several more enemies, they emerged in a giant clearing dominated by a single massive presence.

"I... don't believe it. It really is real..." Paya whispered, almost dropping her weapon in awe.

"What's real?" Link asked as he came up beside her. "Oh... that's real."

"What is 'it,' though?" Zelda asked.

Paya pointed at a giant tree which looked like it had a face. "The Great Deku Tree. We had heard of a guardian spirit that dwelled inside a tree deep in the forest. But none of our tribesmen have been permitted on this ground in hundreds of years. So the stories eventually became legends and myths."

"I see... looks like Kiwi might have thought this would be a safe enough place to hide," Link said as he walked toward the tree's open 'mouth.'

"How can you be sure?" Zelda asked him.

Link bent down, picked something up from the ground and showed it to Paya. "These look familiar?"

"Kiwi's hairpins..."

The party stared at the tree, which seemed to beckon them ominously inside.

"Link, you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Dungeon crawl full of monsters and a final boss to slay to rescue the damsel in distress and hopefully clear the way to the next floor?"

"Great minds think alike, it seems. Paya, you with us?"

"I am with you," Paya said as she drew her weapon. "For my sister."

"Then let's go clear a dungeon," Zelda affirmed, drawing her own weapon.

"I wish I had some inspiring words of bravery before we go in here..." Link stammered as he drew his own weapon.

"Hey, none of that... remember the promise you made to me when we first started out in here."

"Yeah, you're right." Link swallowed hard and remembered his resolve. "Get as strong as we can, and stay alive."

Zelda pulled him down and gave him a long, morale-boosting kiss. "Get as strong as we can, and stay alive."

Steeling themselves against the impending doom, they descended inside the Deku Tree.


	14. Floor 3 (IV): Inside the Deku Tree

**===== Floor 3: Inside the Deku Tree =====**

Link, Zelda and Paya took a moment to allow their eyes to adjust to the dimness of the dungeon. In the first chamber, which seemed to stretch all the way to the ceiling, they noticed a ladder, a vine-covered wall with what looked like a spider crawling on it, and an unlit brazier.

All of this surrounded a pit covered by a thick net of spiderwebs, which looked to have something shiny caught in the middle of it. Link and Zelda ignored it and made their way over to the ladder.

Paya, on the other hand... something about that shiny called to her like a beacon.

As a result, she got trapped in the webs.

"I seem to be stuck here," she said with more than a little trepidation. "Any assistance would be- wait, where are you going?"

"To clear this dungeon," Link replied as he climbed the ladder.

"You're leaving me here?"

"If you can scream, that means you can breathe," Zelda noted. "You'll be fine until we get back. Just don't struggle too much."

The two players walked up a ramp along the edge of the room until they reached another, larger vine-covered wall. Beyond that was a door covered in spiderwebs.

"So... many... spiderwebs..." Zelda said as she backed up closer to Link.

"Trust me when I say the webs aren't what I'm concerned about," Link whispered.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Obvi something made those webs, and I'd bet money we're gonna run into it at some point."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"It's supposed to get you to move your ass... there." Link pointed to the top of the wall of vines. "Looks like the only way is up. These vines are sturdy enough to climb, and there are no enemies on the wall."

"Fair enough... I don't have any better ideas."

They climbed as high as they could, dismounting on a ledge to their left and slaying a Deku Baba that dared stick its neck out. Behind it stood a ledge overlooking the webbed pit, while beyond it they saw another webbed doorway. This one had an unlit brazier behind it, until Link spotted and stepped on a nearby floor switch which lit not only the nearby brazier, but the two on levels below.

With the webbing now burned away, the pair entered the nearby doorway only to have iron bars slam shut behind them. They were now locked in a room on a small ledge with a floor switch and a burning brazier, another ledge on the far side of the room, and a third in a small alcove in the right wall.

All of which paled in importance to the dozens of wriggling orbs on the walls and ceiling.

"What the hell are those?" Zelda whispered, trying to contain how truly terrified she was.

"Hmm... let's get a closer look." Link used the Sheikah Slate's scope to zoom in on one of the squirming spheres and got a name: 'Gohma Egg.'

"Gohma Eggs... that doesn't help a whole lot."

"I wish they'd do something other than sit on the walls like that. They're creeping me out."

"All right, well... let's try this." Link took out his bow and aimed at an egg on the far side of the ceiling.

"Do you have _any clue_ what's about to happen if you shoot that thing?"

Link let the arrow fly and barely got the word "nope" out before it struck its target, causing the creature inside it to hatch and fall to the ground. It was... well, Zelda described it simply as "an eye with two legs and a leaf on its head" called a Gohma Larva, and on top of whatever attacks it had, it also chirped.

It chirped at a low volume, yet loud enough to hatch _every single other egg in the room._

Zelda nervously took a small step back towards the door. "Well, at least we're up on this ledge, and they can't get up here, right?"

"I don't know," Link said as he drew his shield and sword, "but I'm not waiting to find out!"

And with that, he leapt off the ledge and into the pit that was now swarming with Gohma Larvae.

_What made you think that was a good idea?_ Zelda asked internally, drawing her sword and joining him in the fray.

The critters weren't exceptionally dangerous on their own; their only attack was a full-body lunge, which they telegraphed by turning their single eye from yellow to red before they pounced. They also could be taken out with a single hit from Zelda, and one or two hits from Link (direct stabs to the eye took them out instantly). The problem was their constant stream of sheer numbers, which made clearing the room feel a lot more draining that it really was. But eventually, clear it they did, spawning a treasure chest in the southern alcove.

The only problem was that said alcove was too high up to reach. Zelda ordered Link to stay down below while she climbed back up to the ledge they had entered from. She scanned the room and noticed two things in the floor. One was an unlit torch they had somehow ignored. But with no source of fire...

...except the burning brazier next to her...

She had an idea that she had seen work in other games before. She drew her bow and nocked and arrow, then held the arrowhead in the flame. Surprisingly, it caught fire and allowed her to shoot it at the torch in the center of the floor, spawning another chest on the ledge on the far side of the room.

_Okay, that's one problem solved... _

And a new one created. There were now two treasure chests in the room, and they couldn't figure out how to reach either of them, until Zelda noticed something odd about the grass. There seemed to be three circles cut into the grass, but how or by what, she couldn't fathom.

"Hey, Link?"

"Yeah?"

"Do me a favor: stand between that torch and that alcove, will you?"

"Okay, sure." Link shrugged and did as she asked, standing between the two objects she had pointed out, and in the middle of one of the grass circles. Zelda then stepped on the floor switch, producing three round platforms they could use to leap to the chests. As soon as they stopped moving, Link leapt to the alcove nearest him and retrieved a Dungeon Map from his chest. Zelda, meanwhile, sprinted and bounded to the far ledge and opened a chest containing a very peculiar item: "Sheikah Cypher: H." She had absolutely no idea what to make of that, so she decided not to dwell on it for the moment.

With this room finally clear, they returned to the main trunk. They descended to the second floor, which only had the single door covered in webs leading away from it. After shouting down to Paya to make sure she was all right - she was, just extremely exhausted so could they please make haste - they used another flaming arrow from the brazier across the floor to burn away the webbing and proceed onward.

Greeting them as they entered the next room were about a dozen Gohma Eggs and a massive Deku Baba, maybe fifteen feet tall with a head larger than either Link or Zelda. It lunged at them as they entered but came up just short by maybe a foot or two.

"Well, any ideas?" Link asked his companion.

"We gotta kill the Baba first," Zelda offered. "And we have to kill it from here. If those eggs hatch first, they're going to make our lives miserable."

"Yeah, I think... you're... wait a sec, I have another idea."

"What?"

"If we back up all the way to the corners, the Gohma Larvae can reach us, but-"

Zelda yelped as the Deku Baba snapped in their direction once more. "But the Baba can't. We can use our arrows to safely pick them off from a distance, then deal with the elephant in the room."

The two players took their places in the near left and right corners of the room, giving them a little more room to maneuver. Not much, thanks to how narrow the room was, but enough to put their plan into action. There was no coordination this time; they just started firing. A couple of the larvae got into sword range, but nothing they couldn't handle. After that, the giant Deku Baba was slain almost effortlessly, leaving Link and Zelda in an empty room with an eye switch over a barred door. Without even thinking, Zelda shot it right in the pupil, closing the eye and raising the bars.

"Good job," Link said with a light swat to her bottom. "Almost like you've done this before."

"Keep that up, and we might never make it out of here," she purred.

The next room had a pair of small platforms suspended in midair, which led to another ledge with another large treasure chest. The wall of said ledge was covered with vines home to spiders called Skullwalltulas according to Link's Sheikah Slate. He barely had time to register it before - _thwip! thwip! thwip!_ \- Zelda shot each and every single one. She was breathing heavy and had a crazed look in her eyes.

"Hey, you all right?"

"You know how much I _fucking hate_ spiders."

"I... did not, actually. Lesson learned, I suppose."

"Yeah, you think?" She calmed herself down; after all, all the creepy-crawlies were dead now. "I'm all right... I'll wait here while you go grab that chest."

"Okay, I'll be right back." He backed up to the door to get a running start, then leapt to the first platform. Before he could make it to the second, the biggest, creepiest, crawliest monster they had encountered to this point made its sudden appearance, descending from the ceiling and knocking Link out of the air to the floor below.

"Are you all right?" Zelda called out in a panic.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just winded," Link groaned as he got back to his feet and stared his foe down. This particular monster, called a Skulltula, was a massive eight-legged monstrosity with an impervious carapace shaped like a skull. Arrows deflected harmlessly away from it, and any attempt to get close enough to strike it with his sword resulted in Link being knocked on his ass by the spider's spin attack.

Link was busy trying to figure out a plan of attack when the Skulltula suddenly started to recede to the ceiling, then fell flailing onto its back. He didn't hesitate to drive his sword into its squishy underbelly, causing it to explode in a shower of crystal shards. Zelda then drifted lazily through the air and landed next to him.

"How did you do that?" he asked incredulously.

"With this." She opened up her inventory, and in the 'Key Items' section was a new item: the Paraglider. "It lets you glide through the air, kind of like flying. Follow me." They climbed the vine wall to the ledge with the now empty chest.

"Cross your hands above your head," she instructed, and he complied. "Now, run off the ledge, and open your arms overhead. Tilt your hands down to glide forward, up to go backwards, and pull down left or right to move in that direction. Watch me." She crossed her hands above her head, ran off the ledge and opened her arms, causing a cloth device to appear over her head. She steered it with the handles she was now holding, and landed in the alcove they had entered the room from.

_Huh... looks easy enough. All right, here we go!_ Link did the exact same thing Zelda had done, step-by-step, and was able to land himself next to her. "Wow... that's awesome. But, what happened to the spider?" he asked as they passed through the previous room.

"Oh, that's easy," she said with a smirk. "I cut its linkage thread while I was in the air."

"Huh... makes sense enough. Well, we've cleared the top three floors of this dungeon. Now all that's left is the basement."

"But there are no doors or stairs on the first floor, so how... are we..." She looked over the ledge, down to the web-covered pit.

"You got an idea?"

"Yup. Climb."

They climbed the large vine wall inside the main trunk back to the third floor, and found themselves on a ledge overlooking the pit. "Fire arrows aren't gonna burn away a web that big. But it looks like if we hit it with something heavy enough, from high enough, it might just break away." She equipped her full plate armor.

"Wait a sec... when you say something heavy enough... do you really mean, _someone?_"

She looked up at him with a guilty grin. "You catch on quick."

Link froze in terror. "No way, you caaaaaaaaaa-"

Turned out Zelda can, could, and did mean that, because she grabbed Link and leapt off the ledge, sending them both screaming and hurtling toward the center of the web!

The impact of their combined body weight stretched the web as far as it would go, leaving them breathless for the briefest moment - if it didn't break and they were stuck, they were _stuck_ \- and then the web broke away, dropping Link, Zelda, Paya, and whatever shiny thing had caught her eye into a short pool in the basement.

Link was the first to surface. "Zelda! Paya! You guys okay?"

Zelda made her way to a knee-deep platform and changed back into her Royal Armor. "I'm fine."

Paya swam to where Zelda and now Link were standing. "I'm okay as well."

"See? I told you you'd be fine," Zelda winked.

"Before we continue, there is something I must find," Paya said.

"The thing you saw in the spiderweb?" Link replied. "I didn't get a good look at it, but it was shiny which means it's more than likely made of metal. And if it's made of metal..." He pulled out his Sheikah Slate and scanned the pool with its Magnesis Rune. "There's something right there." He fired the magnet beam at a bright pink spot in the slate's field of view. It latched on, and he pulled the object toward him. It was an ornate staff with a bright red orb at one end. He picked it up and it vanished into his inventory, and a pop-up appeared in its place:

* * *

**_You found the Magic Rod!_**

_A Sheikah relic that summons fire. It attacks over a wide area, so it's perfect for bringing the heat on large groups of enemies._

* * *

A message then popped up in his inbox:

**Sender: System**

**As you travel, you may come across weapons and items that don't fit your fighting style. However, if you hold onto them, you may find that a potential ally finds them useful.**

_A potential ally..._

"Paya?"

"Yes, Link?"

"When you found us at your grandmother's house, you said you and your sister were scouting that bokoblin camp we wiped out before you got separated, right?"

"Yes. As far as I could tell, she ran into the Kokiri Forest. Why? You don't think she tried to hide somewhere in the Deku Tree?"

"I think," he said with more than a slight scowl, "the sooner we clear this dungeon, the better."

There was a floor switch on the platform nearest the trio. Stepping on it lit a brazier on a platform across the water. Zelda used it to light a fire arrow and burn away a wall of webbing to reveal another floor switch, which spawned a treasure chest on the platform with the first switch. Link doubled back to open it and recieved a few thousand Col. Another eye switch and barred doors kept the party from the next room, but only momentarily.

The next room contained a decent number of enemies they had already fought, along with several Deku Scrubs that spat rock-like projectiles at the party. Approaching them caused them to hide in their bushy bases, but Link figured out that reflecting the rocks back at the Scrubs caused them to run around in panic for a few brief moments, leaving them wide open to sword attacks. Once the room was clear, the door behind them unbarred, but the door in front remained gated shut. There were two unlit torches in the room, one on either side of the door, but again no source of flame in the room.

"Hmm... stay here, I have an idea," Zelda said as she ran back to the previous room. She returned a moment later with a flaming arrow drawn and was able to fire it at one of the torches just before it extinguished. She then used the one torch to light the other, opening the way forward.

The next room had a floor switch colored blue instead of the typical gold and an unlit brazier on their side, a Skulltula on the far side blocking the exit door, a pool of water between the two, and across the pool was a spinning bar of spikes.

"First things first, we need to light those torches. Zelda, if you would do the honors?"

"Right." Zelda stepped on the floor switch to light the brazier, but as she stepped off, the flame went out before she could light an arrow. Link stood on it in her place. "It's a pressure switch. It'll only activate if there's weight on it. Go ahead."

"Huh... neat." She lit an arrow on fire and was able to successfully light one torch, but it went out before she could light the other one. She tried several times, but she could not get both torches to burn at the same time.

Link watched as Zelda threw her bow to the floor in frustration and sat down in a huff. Paya looked over the room, while Link knelt down behind Zelda and wrapped his arms around her. Suddenly she sprang up and began looking frantically about the room, finally locking eyes on the Sheikah warrior. "Paya, stand on that switch and stay there!"

"...As you command." She did as she was told, her weight keeping the brazier alight.

"All right... now Link, get your bow ready and aim at the torch on the right." Zelda had a clear sense of excitement to her voice, which made absolutely no sense to Paya. But Link seemed to be perfectly fine with following her commands.

...Or was he?

Was it just her imagination, or was Link moving slightly faster than Zelda could speak? As she and Link aimed their arrows across the room, it dawned on Paya.

Link had already figured the puzzle out; he just needed to get Zelda back in focus.

They let their arrows fly, and they both struck at the same time, keeping both torches lit and opening the door on the far side. Link saw fit to shoot one more arrow, severing the Skulltula's ceiling thread and knocking it to the ground. He also propped up a Cryonis pillar on the far side of the pool, which they then used to climb out and onto the far ledge. They decided to ignore the spider for now, as it had flipped onto its belly and was scurrying around menacingly if not slowly, so running past it and through the door was easy enough.

The next room was small, simple, and _swarming _with enemies. Deku Scrubs, Gohma Larvae, even annoying bats called Keese in numbers too large to count. So, the players did what they did best: wade in and slay out. It took some effort, and both players took a modest amount of damage, but eventually they triumphed and were able to press on through the room. The room they entered had a few enemies (which they dispatched easily enough), four unlit braziers surrounded by a floor switch, and two exits covered in spiderwebs. Once again, Paya held the switch down while Link and Zelda used flaming arrows to burn away the webs.

"Two rooms, huh... which way do we go first?" Zelda thought out loud.

"Let me pull up the map... okay, here we are... we should take that door first," Link said, pointing toward the northeast exit. "It's a standalone room, leading right back here."

"A prudent decision," Paya consented, and the group entered yet another room occupied by a giant Deku Baba and several Gohma Eggs. The simliar scenario was suited to the similar approach, except this time they had the advantage of a third sword at work, and thus the room was cleared extremely quickly. After the last enemy fell, another treasure chest spawned, this one containing "Sheikah Cypher: P."

As they backtracked through the room with the braziers to the exit they hadn't used yet, Link tried to get Zelda's insight on the Sheikah Cyphers, but unfortunately she was as lost as he was. "Maybe we can research them in the Necluda Library once we're finished in here."

"Good idea."

The party came out on a ledge in the room they had initially landed in. The only thing on their side of the room was another large pit.

A large pit that, as far as Link and Zelda could see, was swarming with _hundreds_ of Skullwalltulas and Gohma Larvae.

"No way," Zelda said, shrinking back in fear. "I am not climbing down there!"

"Yeah, not gonna argue that," Link said pensively. "Wait a sec... we don't have to climb at all." He took a couple steps back.

It took Zelda the briefest of moments to realize what he was doing. He was right; they weren't going to climb down that pit at all; they were going to glide.

Using the Paragliders they found in the upper level of the dungeon, they glid smoothly down the pit, staying well clear of the walls so as not to agitate the enemies residing on it. Eventually the pit opened up into a massive lake-like room, with three Deku Scrubs taking up residence on the shoreline in front of a barred door. They swam to the shore as Paya did a swan dive into the lake behind them. Link and Zelda looked at each other.

"We could have just done that, you know."

"We could have, but we couldn't see what was at the bottom of that pit at the time."

"Fair enough."

As they approached the far left edge of the shore, all three Deku Scrubs started firing non-stop. Link stunned the first Scrub, but instead of hopping around the room like its species usually did, it just froze in place and starting making a really weird noise, like it was crying for help. "That's weird," Link pointed out. "Let's take care of the other two."

They took care of the other two, moving across the shoreline. As Link stunned the third Scrub, they heard a buzzing sound and all three retreated, only to resurface moments later. "Back to the water!" Zelda shouted. Link followed, and all three party members swam a safe distance away from shore.

"Got an idea?" Link asked Zelda.

"Yeah, I do. We obviously have to stun all three of those things at once, right? But, what if we have to hit them _in a certain order?_"

"Great," Link groaned. "And how do we go about finding what that order is?"

"Hmm..." Zelda focused on the shore, the gears in her head clearly turning. "I got it! There's good news and bad news. The bad news is, we have to guess the order."

"Awesome," Link groaned. "What's the good news?"

"The good news, presuming the combination stays the same, is that there are only six possible combinations. And even better, you've already used one, left-center-right."

"That is good news. What do you suggest I do next?"

"Hmm... left-right-center?"

"Sounds good to me." He swam back to the shore and defeated the Scrubs left-right-center, and they all disappeared and the bars disappeared from the door. "Wow... I can't believe that actually worked."

"Of course it did... it _was_ my idea, after all," Zelda giggled.

Link smiled at her. "Yeah, it was. And it was a good one."

The party healed up one final time before entering the boss chamber.


	15. Floor 3 (V): More New Allies

**===== Floor 3: Inside the Deku Tree =====**

Link, Zelda and Paya found themselves in a round room with several pillars that ran from floor to ceiling. Around the perimeter were piles of webbing that looked to be moving.

"Could those be... people?" Zelda wondered.

"If so, we must free them immediately!" Paya exclaimed.

"That sounds great and all," Link said, pointing his sword to the ceiling, "but I dare say we have a decidedly bigger problem than that at the moment."

That 'decidedly bigger problem' was the single giant eye skittering along the ceiling. Eventually it caught notice of Link and the rest of the party, and the amalgam of legs and claws carrying it dropped down to the floor. Four health bars appeared above its head, along with its name:

Gohma.

"Zelda, you and Paya start slicing those webs open, but be careful. Who knows what they are or what's inside. I'll do my best to keep this thing's attention."

"You got it!" The two ladies did as they were ordered, finding NPCs trapped in the first three cocoons. The fourth, however, held a player! She fell to the ground coughing and wheezing, and Zelda quickly healed her using one of her crystals.

"Thank you, whoever you are," the freed player sputtered. "My name is Griselda. My guild and I heard of this area and tried to clear it, but we were captured by monsters and brought here. There were five of us altogether."

_So four more of these webs are definitely players..._ "Can you fight?"

Griselda picked up her sword and shield. "Yes."

"Good. Paya, you two keep clearing those webs, and send any other players you find over to help us."

"Where are you going?"

"To help my partner." With that, she dashed back to the fight with Gohma, leaving Paya and Griselda to complete her task.

"I thought I told you and Paya to clear those webs?" Link said upon seeing her back at his side.

"They're players. Some of them, anyway. We freed one, and she's helping Paya clear the rest."

"Why?"

"Because you need me. Here. With you. There isn't another soul you trust to watch your back like I do."

"Well, I'm not saying you're right..."

"But?"

"There is no 'but.' I'm not saying it."

"Fine. What do we do about creepy-crawly here?"

"Still trying to figure that out. There's nothing about its attack patterns that jumps out at me, and every time I try to hit it my sword just clangs off it... here it comes again!" The monster had now reared its head back and its eye was a terrifying shade of red, and it lunged at Link with its massive claws. Both players managed to deflect the blows, Link with his shield and Zelda with her sword. The creature's eye returned to yellow as it slowly circled the room.

_The eye... I wonder if... _"Link, I have an idea."

"Okay, let's hope it works!"

Zelda drew her bow and trained an arrow above Gohma. The next time it reared back for an attack, its red eye was directly in her line of fire. She let fly and the creature crumpled to the ground, its eye now green and spinning madly.

"Attack the eye!" she shouted, drawing her sword once again.

"Have I told you lately that you're a fucking genius?!" Link exclaimed through sword slashes. Once they had worked to reduce Gohma's health by a quarter bar, it recovered and resumed skulking about the room. By now, four other players had joined them: Yolko, Grimlock, Kainz, and Schmitt. Zelda explained that they were Griselda's party who had been caught in the forest, and Link brought them up to speed on the attack plan. "Its eye is vulnerable, but only after an arrow shot. Get ready... Zelda, you got it?"

"I got it!" Again, Gohma's eye turned red in preparation for an attack. Again, Zelda put an arrow in it, leaving it stunned on the ground and at the mercy of no longer two blades, but six. As a result, they were able to completely deplete the boss's first health bar. At that moment, the boss recovered completely and retreated to the ceiling.

Paya and Griselda, meanwhile, had finally reached the last cocoon. Paya ripped it open with a single swing of her spear, and a terrified Sheikah girl fell to the floor, gasping for air.

"Kiwi! Thank the gods, you're all right!"

"Paya! I'm fine, but where am I?"

While Paya got Kiwi sorted out, adds were starting to spawn: Gohma Larvae beyond counting. "They die easily," Link asserted, "but it's their numbers that will get you, so be careful. Paya, we could really use your help over here!"

"As much as I wish to be of assistance, I am not leaving my sister alone in here!"

"Paya, let go!" Kiwi demanded. "I want to fight too, but I need a weapon!"

_I need a weapon..._ Something about those words struck Zelda like a hammer.

_I need a weapon... Sheikah relic... potential ally... _"Link, cover me for a few seconds!"

"You got another idea?" he asked as he, Schmitt and Griselda put their backs to her.

"Yes, let's hope it works," she said apprehensively as she scrolled through her inventory. _Damn it, where is it... there!_ "Kiwi?"

"Huh?"

"Catch!" She threw the Magic Rod across the room and Kiwi almost effortlessly plucked it out of the air.

In that moment, Kiwi morphed from a scared little girl into a brave and valiant warrior. Jumping, firing and slashing, she defeated Gohma Larvae seemingly by the dozen as she fought her way to join the raid group with Paya hot on her heels. They eventually cleared the floor and Gohma rejoined the battle, only to be rinsed and repeated for its final three health bars before exploding in a shower of blue crystal shards.

The entire raid party received significant spoils in terms of XP and Col, Link and Zelda each hit Lv. 21, and Link also received an item called the 'Kokiri Emerald.' He stashed it away for the time being, hoping to do some more research on it later. He didn't have long to contemplate it, as all of the players suddenly found themselves teleported out of the dungeon, landing in front of the Deku Tree.

Griselda and her squad were finally catching their breath, and they were all extremely grateful at having been rescued. "Thank you, all of you. Without your help, who knows how long we'd have been stuck down here," Griselda said.

"Yeah, about that..." Link wondered. "How'd you even find your way in here to begin with?"

"We were scouting the nearby forest, but then we were captured by monsters. Yet, for whatever reason they didn't kill us, they just brought us here. Even in the webs, we were still fully aware and functional. We just couldn't actually do anything."

**{Even more strange mechanics from this death game,}** Link nodded to his partner.

**{Players being captured, but not killed, and dragged into dungeons? Makes absolutely no sense to me,}** Zelda replied.

**{Guess it's just another something to be on the lookout for.}**

Link turned his attention back to Griselda. "In any event, having you guys in here sure made things go that much smoother. I'm just glad you're all okay."

"We are. And we are all in your debt. Thank you." With that, the five rescued players used crystals to teleport off somewhere. Paya and Kiwi were also no longer in sight, and Paya's status bar was no longer on Link and Zelda's HUD. They had probably gone back to Kakariko Village, and Zelda suggested the two of them do the same as it was close to midnight. They used the Sheikah Slate to teleport to the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab and spent the night at the inn.

When Link woke up, Zelda was oddly enough at his back. Not that he remembered in exactly what positions they had fallen asleep, but she was still sleeping comfortably and that was all that really mattered to him. He could see that it was light out, which would have normally meant it was time to get up and get moving, but he was in absolutely no rush. Besides, clearing dungeons was tiring work, and he felt that both he and Zelda deserved all the rest they could get. With that in mind, he clutched her hand in his own and took in the rhythmic feel and sounds of her breath, and the expansion and contraction of her chest against his back.

It was in these moments that Chris Farron truly felt at peace.

A peace put in perilous jeopardy by the sudden feeling of hands roaming his body, in a decidedly southern direction.

_She cannot be serious..._

He turned onto his back and looked into the purest pair of blue eyes he had ever seen.

"Good morning, my Hero," Zelda purred as she climbed on top of Link.

"How are you not completely wrecked from last night?"

"I am. But I'm - _ohhh!_ \- never too wrecked for this."

"Is that so?"

She leaned down and locked her lips on to his, silencing him for the moment. "Your love does more for me than any healing items we could find in this damn game. I love you because you heal my body, my mind, my spirit, my soul... my only regret is that it took this long to finally come to terms with that."

"Me too... we spent so much time in the real world fighting what we knew to be true all along, and why?"

"Because we were kids, and kids have other things on their minds."

"Yeah, you're right... but..." He began to run his fingers through her hair.

"But what?"

"What if we had lost each other?"

"You think I followed you halfway across the world just to see the sights? To familiarize myself with my ancestral homeland?"

"I know, but still... you were seeing other people, I was seeing other people."

"And look at how well that all ended." She kissed him again, this time not coming up for several minutes. His insipid questions were reminding her of a time before this moment, and she had absolutely no desire to focus on anything except right here and right now.

"Listen to me, Christopher Lance Farron: you are mine, and I am yours. From now until eternity, from this day until my last day."

"And you are mine, Lanay Ruzanaki, and I am yours. From now until eternity, from this day until my last day."

The pair made love to their hearts' desires, then got dressed and teleported to the Monument of Heroes in Kakariko Village. They thought it might be prudent to check in with Impa and the others before moving on to the fourth floor. Unfortunately, they found a rather discordant scene when they arrived. Kiwi was nowhere to be found, and Paya was arguing with her grandmother, who silenced her as the two heroes entered, leading to Paya storming out of the house.

"Link, Zelda, I cannot express enough gratitude to you for rescuing my granddaughter last night," Impa said in greeting. "However, it seems she and her older sister had a row about something, and she ran off in a huff."

"So you're asking us to find her _again?_" Link asked with more than a slight hint of impatience. How much trouble could a single NPC be?!

"Well, that's the thing... I know where she is, or should I say, where she isn't. According to Paya, none of the local merchants have seen her, and the guards say she hasn't left the village. I don't know where else she could be."

"Hmm..." Zelda was deep in thought. She was starting to catch on to the nature of Aincrad as a VRMMO universe. This wasn't just a woman looking for her lost grandchild; she was a quest-giver, and Zelda needed to sift through what she was saying for clues. Suddenly, it hit her. "Lady Impa, we'll be right back. Link, follow me." He did as she instructed, following her out of the house and along the winding roads of the village. "Okay... what have you got?"

"Kiwi hasn't been seen in the village. But she also hasn't left the village. Which means she's still _in_ the village, just somewhere nobody would be able to find her. Well..."

They were once again standing in front of the Monument of Heroes.

"Nobody but us..." Link skipped the forehead and kissed Zelda full on the mouth. "You're a fucking genius," he reiterated as they descended beneath the earth once again.

They emerged once again in the splendor of the Monument of Heroes, and true to Zelda's instinct they found Kiwi curled up into a ball, asleep on the floor. Zelda gently prodded her awake with her foot, and as she blinked herself awake, she looked up at the two heroes and smiled gently. "Hey... it's you."

"Your grandmother was worried about you, so she sent us to find you," Link said. "What are you doing here?"

"I came here to get away from her," Kiwi pouted.

"Your grandmother?"

"My sister. She's the greatest warrior in our tribe, and I've looked up to her my entire life. I've been trying to convince her to teach me how to fight for the longest time, but she refuses to. Well, one day I found a metal pole out in the fields. I don't know where it came from, or what it was. Maybe it was a wagon part or something, but I started to practice with it. I visualized my sister and the moves she would make, and tried to copy them. I trained by myself two hours a day for almost a year. And I was getting good... or, at least _I_ think I was getting good."

Kiwi sighed in resignation. "Then a few weeks ago, Paya caught me and threw my pole in the river. She told me to stick to my chores and stop worrying about fighting. When we got home last night, she lectured me again about how I shouldn't be fighting. I had enough, and I ran away here."

"Speaking of which, how did you even get in here?"

"Uh-uh, I'm not telling you anything else," Kiwi huffed. "Unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless you _promise_ to take me with you!"

Link and Zelda looked at each other. Each seemed to know what the other was thinking.

For some twisted reason, unbeknownst to all logic and reason, the girl belonged with them.

"All right, we'll try to talk them into letting you go with us."

"Really? You mean it?" Her dark brown eyes lit up at the suggestion.

"Yeah. You seem like you can handle yourself in a scrap, what with that weapon we found..."

"What weapon?"

"The one we found in the Deku Tree," Zelda said. "The one I tossed you when we were fighting the Gohma monster?"

"Oh, that..." Kiwi's smile turned to a devious smirk. "I said I wasn't telling you _anything else_ until you promised to take me with you."

"But, we did-"

"No, you said you'd try to talk my sister and grandmother into _letting_ me go with you."

Zelda was stunned. _Did she... really just outsmart me like that?!_

Kiwi was still smirking, and it was obvious to Link they weren't going to get any further information out of the girl, so he suggested that the best course of action for now would be to return her home.

"Kiwi! Thank the gods you're safe!" Paya embraced her sister in a bear hug the moment they walked in the door. "Thank you _so much_ for finding her... this was all because I took her scouting with me, which I am _never doing again._"

"Actually," Impa chimed in, "before they arrived, you and I were discussing-"

"No!"

"-if it might be prudent-"

"No!"

"-for her to accompany the heroes on their journey."

"Grandmother, I will not allow it! If something happens to me, she's all you've got left!"

Link, Zelda, and Kiwi were taken aback. "Sis, what do you mean?"

"I am a ranking commander in the Sheikah army," Paya said as she knelt down to Kiwi's height. "If I were to fall in battle, who would look after our grandmother?"

Kiwi started to tear up. "That's why you never wanted me to learn how to fight?"

"Yes. That's why I always tried to push you in your studies. You could be a great researcher and historian like Aunt Purah, a botanist, a chemist... anything but a warrior. I never wanted that for you."

"Oh sis..." The tears were flowing freely as the two sisters embraced. "Why didn't you ever tell me that?"

"Because sometimes, fear triumphs over love when it comes to those we care about," Impa said from beneath the lowered brim of her hat. "Something I believe the two of you understand all too well."

**{Do you feel attacked all of a sudden?}** Link said with a small chuckle.

**{Yeah, she pretty much just at'ed us.}**

Paya stood back up to her full height. "Very well," she said, with a tone that denoted acceptance of the decision that had been made. "My sister will accompany you on your travels. I have no doubt that she will be an invaluable asset to you in your journeys. Kiwi, remember that no matter what happens, this is your home. You and your friends will always be welcome here."

Kiwi gave her sister one last hug, and then embraced her grandmother. "I hope you find the fulfillment you seek, my child," the Sheikah elder said. "You have the spirit of the ancients within you. Always follow your heart, and be true to yourself."

"Mistress Zelda, would you be kind enough to help Kiwi pack?" Paya asked. "Your knowledge of your mission will help her discern what she should take with her."

"Absolutely. Kiwi, lead the way." Kiwi looked back to her sister with a puzzled expression, but nonetheless led Zelda up a small set of stairs to her room. Paya took advantage of the occasion. "Master Link, may I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"When we were inside the Deku Tree, and Zelda was trying to get us through the room with the torches and the pressure switch, she became frustrated to the point of giving up."

Link thought back to the dungeon crawl and recalled the moment Paya spoke of. "Okay..."

"You then whispered something to her, and she got right back on her feet solving the puzzle. But the way you moved... it was like you had already figured it out."

Link grinned and cocked an eyebrow, as if he anticipated where she was going with this. "Go on..."

"If you had already figured the room out, why didn't you just say so?"

Link let out a slight chuckle. "If I thought I could survive this world with my sword and wits alone, that would be one thing. Fortunately, I don't have to, as I have Zelda by my side."

He looked in the direction of the stairs before continuing. "When we're out there, she and I need each other at our absolute best. She lost focus for a minute, so all I did was say something I knew would bring her back."

"What did you say?"

"I told her I needed another one of her genius ideas."

"But why, if you had already-"

"Because she knows how much I rely on her intelligence. _That's_ what motivates her."

Paya was clearly confused, but rather than explain any further, Link just put a hand on her shoulder. "You'll learn, one day. Trust me."

"Learn what?"

Kiwi had now come back down the stairs, with Zelda close behind.

Link looked back up at Paya. "Lessons to be learned," he answered cryptically. "Don't worry... in time, you will too."

"Me?"

"Yeah. You are committed to traveling with us, right?"

"Yes..."

"Then let me give you your first lesson. If you're going to do something, _do it_. No half-assed wishy-washiness allowed. Now, let me ask you again: you are committed to traveling with us, right?"

This time, Kiwi stood up straight and looked Link dead in the eye as she delivered her response. "Yes!"

As she watched him interact with the two Sheikah women, Zelda's heart began to quiver. By all metrics, Link was the weaker of the two when it came to sheer combat power. So why should _she_ follow _him_, instead of the other way around?

The reason why was now becoming apparent, as if she didn't know already.

Link was decisive, courageous, and he inspired those around him. He was a true leader by nature, not just because he had a sword in his hand. Yet he understood that being a leader wasn't just a matter of shouting orders at people. It was about saying what needed to be said or doing what needed to be done _at the right time_ to get the right results.

She thought back to the room with the twin torches inside the dungeon...

"Hey, princess, you still with us?" Link's voice crashed its way to the forefront of her consciousness.

"Huh? Oh, yeah... I was just thinking."

"Good. You're a lot better at that than I am," he said with a laugh. "Ready to go?"

"Yes. Lady Impa, Paya, we cannot thank you enough for all of your help."

"Why thank us? You are the ones doing all the work," Impa said. "Remember, the hospitality of Necluda is yours. Now and always."

With that, the newly-formed trio made their way to Hateno on foot, Kiwi insisting on their destination and Link and Zelda deciding traveling on foot would give them time to observe and integrate Kiwi's combat capabilities into their routine.

The party arrived in Hateno Town shortly before nightfall. Link and Zelda roomed at the inn while Kiwi went to the Ancient Tech Lab, directing Link and Zelda to meet her there in the morning.

Once they were showered and in bed, Zelda said, "Okay, level with me, Hero. Back in the dungeon, you remember when I was trying to light those torches?"

"Naturally."

"You told me you needed another one of my genius ideas, but the way you were moving..."

Link held a finger to her lips to silence her. "Why ask questions to which you already know the answer?"

Zelda grinned. "Well, I have to admit it was effective."

"As I knew it would be. I know you. I know what it takes to get you back on track."

"And you knew just telling me what to do wouldn't have been nearly as effective."

"Precisely. You're at your best when you're thinking of ways to get us through things. That doesn't mean you don't expect me to figure things out on my own, or you somehow think you're smarter than me. For whatever reason, you take pride in relying on your mind in dangerous situations. It's a talent that I appreciate in a world revolving around brute force and violence."

"When you say things like that, how could anyone be surprised that I fell in love with you?"

"If it makes you feel any better," he replied around kisses, "I was surprised most of all."

* * *

_**Author's Note: TwistedViper20XX here!**_

_**As you can probably understand, I did a little shuffling of names to avoid having two Impas in the same universe. Elder Impa from BotW kept the name, while General Impa from '**__**Hyrule Warriors' **__**became 'Paya.' Originally that was because I had no long-term plans for the BotW character Paya (she was supposed to make her brief appearance when Link & Zelda first arrived at Kakariko Village and then disappear), but the more I thought about it, the more I realized: we know virtually nothing about Paya's canon character, giving me essentially a blank slate to work with from a character development perspective. Why not take advantage of that? She would just need a new name.**_

_**So we have our first full-time new party member added. She uses Link's Magic Rod weapon from the game **__**'**__**Hyrule Warriors,' which happens to be one of my favorites in that entire game. She also has some support abilities, which are *at least intended* to keep in line with her being a Sheikah. Most of the next chapter or two will be devoted to fleshing those out before the Floor 4 dungeon, which if you're paying attention you can probably guess what it is. It's gonna be another slog to write, but it's a slog that I enjoy, and I hope you are as well.**_

_**I also decided to introduce the Golden Apple guild from SAO canon at this point. I have plans for them, but *way* down the road.**_

_**Until then, this is TwistedViper20XX, signing off.**_

_**A huge shoutout to the 53 followers and 38 favorites on this story; I love each and every one of you!**_


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